After announcing his retirement earlier this year, fans eagerly await Hollywood actor Bruce Willis’s last few upcoming works. The fifth film from the last on that line-up is Detective Knight: Rogue another one of his direct-to-video releases.
An action flick about a cop hunting down a heist crew while confronting his buried past is a narrative turn we are used to seeing over a thousand times in Hollywood films. So, this film has nothing new to offer us. However, it has some interesting characters and emotional moments that can be endured for one hour and forty-five minutes. However, the screenplay never gives them a chance to come out of their shell. As a result, the stereotypes are blatantly followed, and the film never goes beyond the surface level.
This film, directed by Edward Drake, is the first of the proposed trilogy consisting of the character Detective Knight. So, the movie leaves some questions unanswered at the end, which I am sure the director will answer in the subsequent films. This article intends to talk about these questions in detail. So, be aware that the article is going to be full of spoilers.
Detective Knight: Rogue Plot Summary and Movie Synopsis:
The movie starts with a heist in the city of Los Angeles (resembling the opening heist of Michael Mann’s Heat), where four masked men rob a truck full of cash. They successfully rob the truck, but they get the heat at the time of departure. On the run, they steal a car from the nearby parking lot. However, the police tracks them down. At that very moment, one of the robbers starts firing blindly at the police vehicles.
Meanwhile, Detective Knight (Bruce Willis), along with his partner Fitz (Lochlyn Munro) enter the scene, coming face-to-face with the robbers. They fire at each other, and Fitz gets severely wounded by multiple shots during cross-fire. With that excuse, the robbers flee from the spot, and a bewildered Knight comes to rescue his partner.
While Fitz fights for his life in the hospital, the robbers fly off to New York on a private plane. From their conversations, we come to know about their true identity. They are Casey (Beau Mirchoff), the leader of the crew; Mercer (Corey Large), the hot-headed Rambo of the group; Mike (Cesar Miramontes), Casey’s best friend; and Sykes (Keeya King), the girl with the most intelligence among all three in the group.
Meanwhile, Knight teams up with Sango (another Detective from the LAPD) in LA. Sango tells Knight that this kind of heist is taking place all over the country, and there is this one plane seen in every city the theft has taken place in. He also says that the aircraft belongs to Winna, the owner of a New York-based shell company. By hearing this, Knight states that he knows Winna and he is originally a bookie.
In New York, Casey meets with his family. While he tries to do whatever he can to get the family together as his wife becomes suspicious about his work. She tells him that he is not the person he used to be as a football player. She is also concerned about his growing drug abuse. In reply, Casey promises her that he will make everything right.
He meets Winna that day and gets his next assignment – snatching a one-of-a-kind sports card from a high-security auction in New York City. Later, he meets with Sykes and Mike and tells them about the job. He also states that they will be three on the team this time as he can’t trust Mercer with his hot head. Initially hesitant, Mike and Sykes come on board.
Meanwhile, Sango and Knight come to meet with Winna. They ask him about the heists and his possible involvement with them. Winna refuses to talk about any of these, and the two detectives must get out of there empty-handed. Outside, they meet with Winna’s bodyguard Brigga. When Knight goes for questioning, he gives him the name of Casey and tells him to stay out of Winna.
Knight and Sango track down Casey and Mercer. Knight recognizes Casey as a former football player (American Football). But as they have no evidence, they get nothing but some chit-chat. Meanwhile, Sango meets with the police chief of the NYPD and offers mutual help to each other. Though they are all on the same side, their jurisdiction interest and egos collide, and the NYPD police chief makes it clear that they don’t need help from anyone.
Meantime, Casey and his team find out about Detective Knight’s past. They discover that he was an old NYPD police officer who once shot a man called Jerry Leach during off-duty. Jerry Leach was an ex-con and bank robber who killed Knight’s father when he (Knight) was a toddler. So, he killed Jerry Leach out of vengeance. Winna was his CI at that time, and he informed him about Leach’s hideout.
Though fascinated with this, Casey and the team do not give much weight to Knight and plan their next move. They rehearse their heist and decide to send Sykes to snatch the card, as her timing is perfect for the job.
On auction day, Winna reaches the auction place with his girlfriend. Meanwhile, Casey, Mike, and Sykes also come to the site. When Sykes enters the building, she is spotted by an undercover cop who tracks her down. Although she manages to escape, the cops become aware of the intrusion. At last, she snatches the card but barely manages to escape and get caught. Before getting caught, she works to hand over the card to Winna. So the cops do not find anything on her.
After the heist has taken place, Knight reaches the crime scene. Sango (who is already present) tells him that the card is not found yet. In the meantime, Winna comes to Knight and reminds him of his favour. He asks Knight to give him clearance to leave the crime scene. When Knight doesn’t budge, he threatens to kill Fitz back in LA. With no choice left, Knight has to give him clearance. Furious with this act, Sango tells Knight that he doesn’t deserve the police badge.
On the other hand, Casey and Mike reach their den. Still shocked by Sykes’ arrest, Mike constantly asks Casey to go back and rescue Sykes. Casey calms him down and tells him that Winna will get her back as he has the police force in his pockets. In the meantime, Casey gets a call from Winna. He tells him (Casey) that he had the card, but during the investigation, one of the cops retrieved it. So now, He and Mike have to get that, and he will look after Sykes. While Casey is talking on the phone, assassins come to kill Casey and Mike. While Casey fights back, Mike is shot multiple times and dies on sight. Casey realizes that these assassins are Winna’s men, and now he is hunted to cut off the links between Winna and the heist. With no options left, he flees from the scene.
The police department is furious with Knight’s behaviour, and the NYPD police chief tells Sango that if any other mishap happens from Knight’s side, they will put him behind bars. Sango realizes Knight’s dilemma and calls him to talk. They meet in a park, and Sango tells Knight that all these criminals are former athletes. He also tells him that they track down Sykes’s other two accomplices but find out one is dead (Mike). They realize that Winna is cutting off the loose ends. To capture Winna, Sango gives freehand to Knight. Still worried about Fitz, Knight becomes hesitant. In response, Sango tells him that it is his job to capture the criminals, and Fitz would do the same if he were in his position.
While on the run, Casey meets with Mercer. He tells him about his situation. Casey realizes that the only option to live is to kill Winna before he kills him. To reach out to Winna, he makes a plan with Mercer to steal the card from the police station.
On the day of Halloween, Mercer goes to rob a bank to divert the cops’ attention as Casey, at the same time, enters and snatches the card from the police station. Though the plan gets successful, Mercer gets shot by Sango, and Casey gets caught by Knight.
Knight gives the card to Casey, which is hidden inside his police badge (Winna hides it when they meet after the heist in the auction place). He drives him to Winna to create access for himself. Through the security camera, he watches Knight and Casey coming for him. Seeing this, he orders the death of Fitz. While Knight and Casey are approaching, Fitz, back in LA, fights against the assassin and kills him by choking from his hospital bed.
In the showdown, Knight kills Winna and Brigga and frees Casey. In the meantime, Sango comes with force. He orders to arrest of Knight while Casey flees from the scene.
When the night falls, Casey tries to go back to his family. On his way to meet them, the cops find him and arrest him. His wife, Lily, and daughter are shocked by this scenery. His daughter screams for her father, but the inevitable can’t be overturned by time. In the final shot, we see Lily and her daughter go away from Casey as they, too, give up on him.
Detective Knight: Rogue Movie Ending, Explained:
What Will Happen to Knight?
After the showdown with Winna and his goons, we see Knight release Casey. As Casey flees from the crime scene, Sango accompanies the whole force and arrests Knight. From that, the obvious question arises – what will happen to Knight?
It is well known that the NYPD is closely watching Knight’s activities due to his past record and his friendly behavior with Winna. Also, the police chief warns Sango about Knight, stating if he tries to do something stupid on his own in this case, then he has to go behind bars. Despite knowing this, Sango instigates Knight to go on his way to get Winna.
Now, here the role of Sango in the whole case seems quite paradoxical. On the one hand, he calls Knight, his friend, and on the other, he is the one who arrests him in the end.
So, in the end, there can be two possibilities from which we can anticipate Knight’s future. First, Sango understands that the only way to get Winna is through Knight, as the other paths are closed. So, he instigates Knight to go after Winna despite knowing that the police will not let any opportunity pass to put him behind bars. Second, Sango arrests Knight at the end. So, it can be possible that he captures Knight just out of protocol, and he will vouch for his courage to confront one of the notorious criminals of New York in the subsequent inquiry.
Also, it can be possible Sango has a plan to protect Knight from any other danger via Winna’s accomplices. So, he puts him in jail as a haven. Whatever it may seem, we must wait a few more days for the film’s second installment to come out and answer the questions.
What Will Happen to Casey?
Casey is the most dynamic character in the entire film. He is portrayed as an anti-hero. He does misdeeds, but he has human qualities. His quest to provide for his family may be an excuse, but his love for his wife, and especially his daughter, is pure. So, at the end, when the police arrest Casey in front of his daughter, we become sympathetic toward him.
But what is his fate in the end? We all know that his accomplices were either killed or arrested. He is the only one on the run from the police and Winna (as he tries to kill him to clean off his name on the entire heist). Knight saves him and takes him to Winna. Knight uses him as access to Winna. So, after the showdown, he lets him free.
After he is free from Knight and Winna, he goes to his family to reconcile. But as karma strikes, he is arrested in front of his wife and daughter.
In the last scene, we see Casey’s wife and daughter go away from him as they give up on him. I don’t know if the makers intend to bring back the character in the subsequent sequels, but this final image instigates us to forget about him as his story may end with his arrest.
