It is Michael's (White, Spawn, Black Dynamite, The Dark Knight) first day back from a suspension after a recent negotiation went bad. He has been cleared by his fellow negotiator and department psychiatrist, Cheryl (Victoria Pratt, Mutant X, Day Break), to return to duty, and it seems like it's just in time as well. Not far from the police department, a gang of men dressed in construction outfits walk into a bank and hold everyone up. With Cheryl out on another case, it's up to Michael to end the showdown without anyone getting hurt. When the man behind the entire heist turns out to be Michael's recently paroled older brother, Jesse (Jackson, The A-Team), Michael's boss, played by Tom Berenger (Platoon, Inception, Major League), decides to take him off the case. Unfortunately, there isn't anyone else to do the job and, to make matters worse, one of the department's own is in the bank as a hostage.
As Michael and Jesse talk out the situation, it becomes clear that Jesse has more than just a smash-and-grab in mind. Unbeknownst to his heist-mates, Jesse is playing for a bigger prize, but can Michael figure out what that is and stop the crime before it's too late?
I'm going to put this bluntly, Cops and Robbers isn't a good film. The acting isn't great and the plot is both contrived and predictable. To make matters worse, the low budget feel of the entire movie just hurts the overall presentation a lot. I've seen both White and Jackson act better in other roles, so it's hard to tell if the acting problems stem from them or if it is more systemic to the overall project. Cops and Robbers is simply a movie that should be passed by. If you want something that has many of the same story elements but of higher quality, go watch 1998's The Negotiator with Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey.
