We Own the Night

"We Own the Night" proves once again, that Wahlberg and Phoenix deserve Oscar nods (and I hope, wins). The film portrays the thin lines we cross daily in a very poignant way. What is truly amazing to see is director Gray's ability to make the film authentic by setting it in two of New York's boroughs (we see references to locations, i.e. the Kew Motor Inn in Kew Gardens is renamed "Cue Motor Inn" for the film). To me, this element makes it an excellent "New York film", and like so many before them, they make you beg for more. The entire cast is stunning and deliver in each scene without fail. While I saw some scenes of the film on television for promotional preview, etc., the clips did not reveal the order or what would come after it... and I'm glad for that! To sum it up: see it, love it, buy it when it comes out on DVD!

Greetings again from the darkness. Although there is an air of familiarity about the story ... dutiful son, black sheep, worshiped father, family turmoil, redemption, etc ... writer/director James Grey still manages to create enough drama, tension and believability to make this a quality picture. It never hurts to have Robert DuVall, Mark Wahlberg and especially Joaquin Phoenix in your three lead roles. Heck even Eva Mendes shows a little acting ability in a couple of scenes. Toss in a shootout in a drug factory, a really cool (but short) car chase in the rain, and hide and seek in the tall reeds and you got an above average cop thriller/family melodrama. The three leads are well cast and do a nice job of establishing the obvious lifestyle and character differences very quickly. I especially enjoyed the scenes with Phoenix and DuVall. Special note on Alex Veadov who plays a really bad man ... he is scary.

I'll try to keep it short because so many comments are available to detail the disappointments in the movie. Bottom line - it was absurd. The cast was solid, and the look of the picture was fine, but EVERY key turning point in the movie was driven by (1) jaw-dropping coincidence, (2) implausible stupidity by either police or criminals who are supposed to be the best at what they do, or (3) characters doing things they wouldn't do. On that last point, Joaquin Phoenix's character Bobby is certainly a contender, but the champion is Mark Wahlberg's Joe, a bold, brave, and brash, bad-ass cop who recovers from a dramatic shooting only to cower in the weeds at the end so that his previously-criminally-associated brother-turned-deputized-police-officer-for-two-days can step in to lead a major East Coast drug raid. And all of that is LITERAL.... Oh, and somehow the bad guys can't figure out that the nightclub manager that they invited to come to their top-secret drug processing facility is the brother of the cop they went out of their way to gun down in the middle of the street, even though the nightclub brother had openly attended the cop brother's police ceremony a couple nights before, and the cop brother raided the nightclub brother's bar after that, and the nightclub brother was let out of jail despite possession of narcotics, and so on and so on and so on. Don't try to untangle it. Don't even try to see it.

Not a good film at all. Forget all the positive reviews, the only decent bits were the blurry car chase and the scene where Joaquin Phoenix goes to the Russian mob's den and gets found out. A hilarious continuity cut at the start put me in the mood for the film though. Eva Mendes is having her bean flicked by Joaquin, one minute she's got tights on, the next they disappear! Hey Presto, Joaquin is a wizard!! After that the film just doesn't deliver. I spent the whole time comparing it to films it's like which are better, like The Departed and Carlito's Way. Mr Phoenix looks like he's on Temazepam, he wanders through the film in a daze, disinterested, and tired, he acts like he's just come out of an "Eat as much as you can" Chinese Buffet, shouldn't have had that 3rd plate Joaquin. Mark Whalberg drifts in and out of the film with the enthusiasm of somebody who's just read such an appalling script. Robert Duvall is solid but dull. There are plenty of contrived exchanges that drag the film down. And Joaquin's transformation from night club manager to gun toting cop belongs in the realm of Science Fiction. The guy who plays Jumbo gives one of the most shocking performances in the history of cinema. He acts in that generic-pseudo-cool gangster way, but his execution is diabolical, and to top it all, you get the feeling that the actor playing the role actually thinks he's doing a great job! I think he should retire. Not very good at all.

"We Own the Night" certainly isn't a film classic, but of today's films it provides enough drama, tension, style, and most of all shows justice and honor of family. Set in the late 1980's in New York City when the drug and party world was at an all-time craze, the plot focuses on two brothers the first straight laced and NYPD cop Joseph Grusinsky(Mark Wahlberg) and second his brother Bobby(Joaquin Phoenix) the different and darker party drug snorting playboy who enjoys his sexy sidekick girlfriend Amada(Eve Mendes). This film then turns to a sibling struggle as Joseph and his father Burt(Robert Duvall) try to convert Bobby over to the good side and leave the dark underworld of money and drugs behind. The film is filmed with tense moments of family struggle and many scenes are stylish and flashy, plus Mendes gives a sexy performance. And as always veterans Wahlberg, Duvall, and Phoenix perform well. Most of all it's best to see the growing and transforming of family and brotherly love return as the Joaquin character teams up with brother Joseph to bring down the bad guys after a family tragedy. Overall a decent film of family moral reverse that bonds together to bring justice.

WE OWN THE NIGHT is the quote from the lower portion of the badge on the uniforms of NYPD police family Deputy Chief Bert Grusinsky (Robert Duvall) and one of his two sons Capt. Joe Grusinsky (Mark Wahlberg): the other son Bobby (Joaquin Phoenix) did not follow the family tradition of police work but instead is involved in nightclubs - and yes there is a schism of resentment. Bobby has distanced himself further from his family by changing his last name to 'Green', living with a Puerto Rican girl Amada (Eva Mendes), and bonding to a wealthy Russian family who owns the nightclub where Bobby works - a front for a drug dealing business. Writer/Director James Gray ('The Yards' and 'Little Odessa') has a feel for this underbelly of New York City and captures the 1988 mood of life in the city and beneath the city with style. The problem with the story is that it has been done so many times that it is simply stale yesterday's lunch. Two brothers at opposite end of the family spectrum require a major tragedy to bring them together, and to offer any more information to this fairly thin plot would be a disservice to those who plan to see the film. The cast is strong, partly because each of them has played similar roles countless times and have the ideas down pat. It should be noted that two of the producers of the film are Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix, probably a reason the film was made... There are some exciting moments and enough surprises and tense times to keep the adrenaline rolling, the smaller roles are very well cast, and one of the shining attributes of the film is the gorgeous Russian liturgy inspired musical score by Wojciech Kilar. It is not a bad film; it is just too much in the same mold as countless other New York police dramas. Grady Harp