Synopsis
A wealthy couple in Los Angeles, Michael and Karen Carr (Kurt Russell and Madeleine Stowe) befriend a cop, Pete (Ray Liotta), after a criminal breaks into their home and tries to rape Karen. Seemingly innocent Pete upgrades the security system of his home. During a conversation with his new friend Pete, Michael expresses an interest in getting revenge on the criminal who attacked his wife.
Pete takes Michael on a ride with him through the seedy and dangerous neighborhoods of Los Angeles that he patrols at night. He gives Michael a chance to get revenge on the intruder who broke into his house the other night.
After dropping off his partner, Roy Cole (Roger E. Mosley), Pete offers Michael his baton to use on the intruder who broke in the night before when he was cornered.
The more civilized man that Michael is, ends up rejecting Pete’s offer of revenge. Michael realizes that Pete is not right in the head when he viciously beats the intruder in front of him.
Michael is deeply disturbed by Pete’s cruel display of violence and tells him to stay away from him and his wife, Karen. Instead, Pete has other plans and begins to stalk the couple, particularly Karen, whom he has set his obsessive eyes on.
Michael realizes the seriousness of this matter when Pete appears in his room one night when he is having sex with Karen. Michael files a complaint against Pete with the Los Angeles Police Department.
He turns to Roy Cole for help, when the Police Department is skeptical and doesn’t offer much help. Officer Cole confronts his partner Pete as he runs through the hills.
He orders him to stay away from the couple and receive therapy or he will report it to his superiors and they will suspend him. While patrolling at night with Pete, Roy Cole is killed by his own partner while trying to arrest a drug dealer.
Pete covers up the evidence and blames the drug dealer whom he also kills. Pete is now free to wreak havoc on Michael’s life some more, which involves him framing Michael for cocaine possession.
Michael is jailed while his lawyer works to get him out. Meanwhile, back at the couple’s house, Pete makes his intentions known to Karen and his advances are quickly rebuffed. Pete gets furious and tries to rape her.
Michael is out on bail when he uses his lawyer’s finances and makes it home just in time to save his wife. Now back at the house, Michael engages Pete in a fierce fight.
Illegal Entry: The Review
Illegal Entry is an underrated gem of a movie. The performances of Kurt Russell, Madeline Stowe and, above all, Ray Liotta are top notch. The movie is a really great crime thriller and it also gives a good insight into what jealousy and sex-related obsessions can do to a person’s mind.
Illegal Entry is buoyed by a very powerful performance from Ray Liotta, who I first saw in this film instead of in Goodfellas (1990). He offers one of the best performances of a corrupt psychotic cop in movie history.
At first, he’s very subtle with Pete’s character, as he comes off as a really nice guy who’s lonely and longs for a normal life with a lovely woman.
Gradually you start to see how scary and psychotic he is with his powerful facial expressions and commanding natural physical presence as he pushes his boundaries with the partner.
Ray Liotta plays the part very realistically and doesn’t seem like he’s putting much effort into it. One scene that highlights Pete as a nightmare of a man is when he has sex with a prostitute (Ruby Salazar) in a nasty and dangerous neighborhood at night.
He quickly shows his distaste for her and the fact that he has to resort to these methods to find any fulfillment in life. The prostitute realizes with fear that this man is disturbed when he verbally abuses her and kicks her out of her police car.
Ray Liotta makes one of the best scary faces and is very menacing with his piercing blue eyes. The plot of this film has been seen before, although in this one it is shown in a very effective way.
Kurt Russell is also great with his acting and it’s intense as his life begins to unravel as Pete starts perpetrating things like getting him in trouble for credit card fraud and parking tickets.
Madeline Stowe is a very beautiful woman and it’s no wonder Pete loves her. The intensity of the clashes between Kurt Russell and Ray Liotta’s characters are brilliantly realized. The two actors showed great chemistry together and their fight at the end of Illegal Entry is shot very realistically.
The nasty neighborhoods that were shot in Los Angeles for trespassing are really a nasty sight. Ray Liotta was nominated for an MTV Movie Award in 1993 for his portrayal of Pete. In Illegal Entry there are some nudes with breast shots and also some profanity.
By the end of the movie, you’ll be rooting for the good guy played by Kurt Russell as Pete sinks to his lowest point. The ending also makes you wonder if the couple ever recovered.