We Own the Night

We Own the Night is a variation on the good brother/bad brother story. The dad (Duvall) is the assistant chief of police in New York, Wahlberg is the good soon who became a cop, and Phoenix is the brother who didn't listen to anyone and who now is on the wrong side of the tracks. I know you are rolling your eyes about now. The movie has a good cast including Eva Mendes (who always seems to life a movie up into a higher plane), Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, and stealing the show is Robert Duvall, who looks great here. This is definitely Phoenix's show, and if you are a fan then you should go see this. Wahlberg and Mendes are almost wasted here, they are not given a ton to do, and in fact Mendes disappears about halfway through the movie, and it leaves you scratching your head (or whatever part of your body that itches). The problem is not the acting, it is the writing.

The one great thing about We Own the Night, is that the movie constantly throws you curves, it sets you up and then resolves conflicts in ways that you do not see coming. It felt like if they had spent a little more time with the script a good movie might have been a great one. There are not a lot of action sequences; most of the time is spent seeing things through Phoenix's eye (the bad son). There is one car chase scene in the middle, where the filmmakers actually back off a bit and underplay their hand, and it comes off as one of the more harrowing scenes in the movie (or any movie for that matter). I can't explain more without spoiling the surprise if you choose to go see it.

I really loved the way the movie used sound. It constantly sets up the environment with little sounds clues, and this aspect of the movie is very well done. The movie over all is on wobbly wheels. Some of the plot specifics seem a bit manipulative (or not true to the characters) and don't really work all the time (at least they were gutsy enough to try something different). The movie tries to use the city of New York and it's history as a backdrop to the plot, but this aspect of the movie doesn't really ever kick in. The movie aims for a tragedy, but is not good enough to pull it off, though it does have its moments. It is still worth seeing if you are interested in this type of movie.

You can write James Harper at movielover77061@yahoo.com