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We Own the Night
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg,
Eva Mendes, Robert Duvall
Directed by: James Gray
Produced
by:
Nick Wechsler, Marc Butan, Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg
Written
by: James Gray
Distributor: Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures Releasing |
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We Own the Night is a standard police procedural that is
made thoroughly involving by its impressive production values.
In making the film, writer/director James Gray clearly decided
to craft a piece more concerned with nailing an established
formula than ambitiously failing at creating something new. And
nail a formula he does! Even though We Own the Night
tackles familiar “cops and drug-lords” territory, it oozes in an
involving embrace of the Hollywood style. Gray effortlessly
captures the film’s setting, a crime-ridden late-1980s Brooklyn
plagued by moral dilemmas such as the one experienced by
club-manager protagonist Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix). Bobby
finds himself smack in the middle of a drug-war taking place
between the NYPD (in a task-force headed by his father and
brother) and the Russian mafia (of which his boss’ nephew, Vadim
Nezhinski, is a verified part of). As he decides how much to
involve himself in the conflict, Bobby is highly influenced by
the atmosphere around him, which Gray brings to life vividly.
Aiding Gray’s development of the setting are the efforts of the
tremendous cast, which is excellent across the board. Phoenix,
Mark Wahlberg (as Bobby’s brother), Robert Duvall (as Bobby’s
dad), and Eva Mendes (as Bobby’s girlfriend) all steal a fair
number of scenes, realistically inventing their characters and
the sense of moral consequence that they embody. Not to mention,
the picture reaches its conclusion in one of the most
brilliantly executed, heart-pounding sequences of the year, a
high-grass-set game of cat-and-mouse between Bobby and Nezhinski.
On the whole, We Own the Night makes for a terrific
entertainment.
-Danny Baldwin, Bucket Reviews
Review Published on: 10.12.2007
Screened on: 10.12.2007 at the
Edwards San Marcos 18 in San Marcos, CA.
We Own the Night is rated R and runs
117 minutes.
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