“Street Kings” is an archetypical Los Angeles detective story created by two players who’ve built careers exploring this instantly identifiable environment.

The story and screenplay belong to best-selling author James Ellroy, whose deep knowledge of traditional film noir has benefited “L.A. Confidential,” “The Black Dahlia” and “Dark Blue” with Kurt Russell.

David Ayer directs Ellroy’s script, which resembles screen-plays Ayer himself has penned – the two actually collaborated on the similar “Blue” for director Ron Shelton. Ayer specializes in street-tough dialogue that spews from the mouths of crooked cops. He explored the men behind the badges while writing “Training Day” and the “S.W.A.T.” remake.

Basically, you know what you’re getting from these storytellers, and “Street Kings” tells more of the same. Los Angeles detective Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) bends the rules, with the consent of his immediate superior (Forest Whitaker), if it means bringing in a guilty party. But Ludlow’s old partner (Terry Crews) is threatening to sing to Internal Affairs stooge James Biggs (Hugh Laurie), and the threat of exposure draws Ludlow into a violent circle of crime and cover-up.

Good actors can sell this signature brand of cop speak. Whitaker knows how much malice to infuse into certain lines, as when he orders Laurie’s snooping IA officer to “do the department a favor and wash your mouth out with buckshot.” Denzel Washington set the bar. He emphatically sunk his teeth into Ayers’ “Training Day” script, then flossed with a Best Actor Oscar statue.

Even-keeled Reeves isn’t as skilled, so questionable lines like “Bad breeds more bad” come off as lackluster. Reeves has shown personality before in goofy “Bill and Ted” films and earnest romantic comedies like “Something’s Got to Give.” Those flashes of charisma are absent here, as Reeves internalizes Ludlow’s struggles to right his wrongs.

Not that the casting of Reeves as an undercover cop isn’t inspired. Ludlow immediately calls to mind the actor’s work as FBI special agent Johnny Utah in the seminal surf-and-shoot thriller “Point Break.” And it’s amusing to imagine Ludlow is the jaded, angry officer Utah would have become after 15 years on the beat.

Comparisons like this come to mind primarily because the central “Street Kings” story didn’t hold my interest. The fact that dirty cops walk Los Angeles’ mean streets isn’t exactly an earth-shattering revelation, and the cover-up holding the plot pieces together hides in plain sight (you also can guess every character involved in the scheme after 10 minutes or so).

But Ayer is sharpening his skills as a filmmaker. “Street Kings” is a vast improvement over his last feature, “Hard Times” (though he should have offered “Times” star Christian Bale the Ludlow role). If he isn’t careful with project selection, though, he’s going to end up telling various shades of the same story.