Middling crime thriller (We Own The Night (DVD))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	We Own The Night (DVD)
Date:	11/09/09 (3 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Solid performances, good action

Disadvantages: Cliched to the nines

note: also appears on Flixster and The Student Room

We Own The Night opens in the late 1980s, as New York club owner Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) is ascending to the top of the scene - his beautiful girlfriend dotes on him (Eve Mendes), but his estranged father (Robert Duvall) is the Chief of the NYPD, and his brother (Mark Wahlberg) is a dedicated cop who has just become the leader of a new anti-drug task force. This sets things in motion for a film sure to have an absolutely shattering showdown. Whilst cliched and borrowing a lot from better films such as The Departed, this is still a solid thriller that doesn't condescend too much to its audiences and has some solid performances peppered throughout.

What I enjoyed most about the film was the relationship element regarding the two brothers and their father - Duvall, Wahlberg and Phoenix really go connect rather well, and with a stronger script, this really could have been a modern crime classic, considering this level of talent. Those expecting an action extravaganza might want to sit this one out, though, because it's quite dense plot-wise, and requires that you use your brain rather than sit there, slack-jawed as cars explode (although there are a few shoot-outs).

Where it loses steam is undeniably in the script department - things aren't well paced, and some of the lines are very overbaked and portentous, making them seem as though they were deliberately written so that someone could edit them into a powerful trailer.

We Own the Night is a fairly cliched film, with characters that don't inspire us to care. However, the acting is decent (even from Eva Mendes), and the few action scenes are competently directed. The plot isn't entirely convincing, but it's not a horrible way to spend two hours. What Gray's film does best is to reverberate the 80s zeitgeist through us with a great soundtrack, and effectively convey the fickle and erratic emotional temperament of human beings without appearing too contrived.

Summary: Derivative but solid