“Detective Knight: Rogue” misleads us right from its title. The film is not about Detective James Knight but Casey Rhodes, with whom Knight apparently finds a connection. However, this connection is established, if at all, at the very end of the film, until which time the film revolves around Casey more than the others. A predictable ending along with a clichéd narrative makes “Detective Knight: Rogue” yet another debacle starring Bruce Willis and his seemingly fervid thirst for pointless roles of late, like in “White Elephant,” “Wire Room,” “Agent Game,” “A Day to Die,” and “Gasoline Alley,” to name a few.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In ‘Detective Knight: Rogue’ Film?
Casey, Sykes, Mike, and Mercer work for Andrew Winna, a rich bookie who owns a shell company, pulling off heists in different cities using a place to transfer his gang of thieves. But after they shoot a cop, Knight’s partner, Fitz, tension arises as they haven’t shot anyone before, and it could pose a threat to their job and their lives. However, Winna has his ears in the police department and finds out that the police officer who was shot will pull through. But Mercer pulls out of the group, not willing to take any more risks. Knight and his co-detective, Goodwin Sango, start digging for intel and find out about the thieves and Winna.
Winna offers Casey his next job for a larger sum of money. Casey, Sykes, and Mike have to rob a trump card from an auction. Knight and Sango visit Winna and try to bring out info from him, but he doesn’t open his mouth. Unbeknownst to Sango, Knight has a connection with Winna and his head of security, Brigga, who tips him about Casey. Knight and Sango then meet Casey, but he doesn’t give them anything either.
Sykes does some research on the two detectives (Knight and Sango) and tells about it to Casey and Mike. Nine years ago, a bank manager was killed by an ex-con named Jerry Leach. A few years later, Jerry Leach was shot by Knight. The reason Knight killed Leach was that the branch manager was Knight’s father. The last person to see Leach was Winna. This means that Winna, who was also a confidential informant for the police, tipped Knight about Leach’s whereabouts in exchange for a favor. This, in turn, means that Knight was in contact with Winna, a criminal.
The trump-card heist at the auction goes haywire, and Sykes is arrested. Casey and Mike manage to escape to their hideout. There, Casey calls Winna, who tells him that they have the trump, but Winna gave it to a cop and has no idea where the cop went thereafter. Even then, Winna assures Casey that everything is fine and that Casey and Mike will have their share soon. A few minutes later, a group of masked gunmen attacks Casey and Mike. Mike is killed, but not before blowing a pipe bomb that kills the gunmen. Casey unmasks one of the gunmen and recognizes him as Winna’s guard. He realizes that Winna is trying to clean the slate so that he doesn’t have to share the money or worry about the evidence.
Will Casey be able to bring down Winna? Or will he be captured by the Knights? “Detective Knight: Rogue” has the answers.
‘Detective Knight: Rogue’ Ending Explained – Does Casey Take His Revenge On Winna?
Yes and no. A lot is going on with Casey that transcends Winna. Casey’s revenge stems from a fame-propelled past as a rugby player, that was then shoved away into a meaningless present due to a knee injury. Naturally, losing all the money and fame in the blink of an eye cuts deep. And Casey has a family to take care of as well. As surreal as it sounds, it may not be that difficult for a person to then turn to swift means for earning more money, a means that can be illegal too. And “Detective Knight: Rogue” uses hyperbolic logic to show Casey turning to Winna’s heists to make more money.
On the other hand, we have James Knight, who is still suffering from his past actions that were the outcome of his father’s death. [Here, it needs to be mentioned that the film doesn’t pay attention to the span of time that has passed between the death of Knight’s father and the present occurrences. The film addresses it as if Knight’s father died only a few years ago, whereas Knight, who now appears to be around 50 years of age, was just a toddler back then. The film loses sense of time in trying to connect the dots.] Coming back to the topic of discussion, James intends to catch the culprit who shot his friend, but he doesn’t want to take any wrong steps out of hurry or anger. He knows what it led him to do the last time (killing Leach) and how it affected him or whether it just made things worse for him.
So, with Winna already trying to pull the leash he has had on Knight in the name of favor, Knight decides to put an end to him after all these years. And what helps him do it is Casey’s confession about not wanting to leave his daughter without a father. Knight surely doesn’t want Casey’s daughter to face the same fate he had as a small child (growing up without a father). He thus decides to help Casey take down Winna. But this doesn’t change the fact that Casey shot a cop and carried out multiple heists. At the end of the film, it is Knight who shoots Winna and kills him. He is arrested. Furthermore, Casey is also arrested for his crimes. In this way, “Detective Knight: Rogue” doesn’t offer a happy ending and keeps things rather normal and sensible.
That the title of the film addresses Detective Knight as a rogue has a whole different meaning after the film ends. Knight isn’t a rogue or a dishonest person as such. He is an officer who was forced to go rogue for personal reasons. This does make him immoral and certainly not a “knight.”
“Detective Knight: Rogue” is a 2022 action thriller film directed by Edward John Drake.
