CP review of ‘We Own the Night’
“We Own the Night,” directed by James Gray, is a thrilling exploration into how familial bonds and destiny coincide in the grimy coke-filled fool’s paradise that was 1980s New York City.
Gray teamed up with Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg for the second time to produce the film after their impressive collaboration in “The Yards.”
Joaquin Phoenix gives an electrifying performance as Bobby Green, the club owner of Studio-54 reincarnate, El Caribe. Phoenix plays a greasy party-boy with good intentions who lives on the other side of the law than his father and brother, who are both police officers.
Mark Wahlberg gives a lackluster performance as Joseph Grusinsky, a heartless police officer who stages a major drug bust at El Caribe. Afterwards, his department makes it a priority to decimate a large Russian-mob drug cartel operating out of El Caribe.
After Wahlberg’s Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor in last year’s “The Departed,” he seems somewhat typecast into the role of the conflicted, high-ranking police officer.
Wahlberg gives a flat performance and fails to live up to the reputation he has created as a charismatic and talented actor in films like “The Departed” and “Boogie Nights.”
Burt Grusinsky, played by Robert Duvall, is the patriarchal figure with conflicted loyalties for both of his sons. Duvall’s character finds himself in a melodramatic moral dilemma that arises when violence begins to haunt his family and his sons become pinned against one another in a classic us versus them scenario.
Sultry Amada Juarez, played by Eva Mendes, is Phoenix’s girlfriend, an innocent who becomes entangled in the violence. Other than her sizzling shadow appearing in many of the scenes, her role in the film is trivial. Most scenes are of her, looking devilishly hot, laying on a bed and catering to Phoenix. Her role is nearly pointless and her execution is disappointing.
The plot is designed well and moves quickly with few holes, despite its predictability.
The car chase scene toward the end of the movie is arguably one of the best in recent films.
As a result of Phoenix’s tremendous performance (he is the modern-day Al Pacino, but with greater versatility), this film is definitely worth seeing. Nonetheless, this movie never reached the potential that it had to be a noteworthy cop drama in an era of steep competition.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Sarah Stern at sterns@colorado.edu.
