We Own the Night

I loved everything about this movie. drama, action, love, loss, grief, anger and so much more. The actors really take you there and your heart beats as fast as their's and you're scared just as much as they are and you feel their pain and sadness and the movie is just amazing and i cant wait to see it so many more times at more college prescreenings and when it comes out in theaters all over! James Gray s awesome too, he's the writer and the director. he was at the screening i was at tonight and talked and he's such a great guy and he takes so much time to research and his emotion and passion for the story is very much shown and appreciated.

go see it right away, i know i will be seeing it again and again

On the whole I think James Gray's movies benefit from his smooth directing, no rushed and furious MTV editing. This leads to a good deal of leniency from the part of critics (as with Night Shyamalan before it became too obvious he was shooting the same narrative structure over and over), a kind of prime for directors who don't harass the viewer with images + sounds but let the camera roll and the actors do their jobs, the story unfold and so on.

We Own the Night starts very well, the exposure is excellent. Even though the brother confrontation is definitely not new Joaquin Phoenix is so good you just get into the story and beg for the plot to become more complicated. Oops. The problem is the story becomes a one-way highway of the same old/same old. Joaquin Phoenix is ever so good you don't care too much until it becomes way way too much. In that respect (and lack of respect for the movie-goer) the movie ends in a lame way, rushing an happy and clean and tidy and moral conclusion.

The last lines (see the so-called "memorable quotes") say it all. It perfectly reflects that a smooth director may be too smooth on writing. Bringing sentiments before the camera is miles away from shooting scripted sentimentalism and I think James Gray has a problem with his characters' emotions since he is only able to play on pathos and good acting.

The Grusinsky family is a family of cops, father Bert is Deputy Chief and son Joe is Captain. However son Bobby has shunned this side of the family and, to Bert's chagrin, is using his mother's maiden name and is running a club in Brooklyn, mixing with those who see the police as a joke and the city as theirs. As a result the family is split, with neither willing to see the others' point of view. When Joe leads a raid on Booby's club and picks up several men of a high-profile Russian mobster the outcome is bloodshed - with a hit put out on Joe. With the Russians unaware of the family connection, Bobby must decide who he stands with and the risks he is willing to take for his family.

We Own the Night came and went in the cinemas over here and struck me as being one of those thrillers that gets made that is solid enough to watch but not remarkable enough to do really well. This was enough to make me check it out anyway though and it turned out to be pretty much what it appeared to be in the overview. This is no bad thing though because a solid thriller is still a solid thriller and sometimes that is a welcome relief from all the noisy, superficial blockbusters handed to us week in, week out. Set in the 1980's, the film does recall the cop thrillers of the 1970's to a certain point and it does feel like an old fashioned film in terms of the characters and the way it is shot and the rather grey and oppressive feel to the city of the time does lend itself to the narrative.

It's not a film of gripping tension though. There are several really well done scenes that are unbearably tragic and tense (the shoot-out between cars is particularly good) but mostly the film takes a slower pace that focuses on the characters. It is a good direction to go but the problem is that Gray allows it all to get just that bit too sombre and heavy and it does have an impact on the film in regards slowing it down somewhat. This seems to have been passed onto the cast as well, who are generally restrained in their emotions - again not a massive criticism but it does feel a bit like all these factors are weighing down the film to a certain extent. Phoenix impresses despite this and he does convince in his character even if he himself comes over like he has a weight on his shoulders that is crushing him; I get that that is part of his character but again it adds this sense of slowness to proceedings. Wahlberg is underused and has too little time and opportunity to make the most of his character - he is very much a supporting player. Duvall is better because his presence adds more and the lack of time doesn't take away from him as he does what he has to do. I enjoyed seeing Mendes doing more than being her usual foxy and a bit playful self - trust me, I do love her in that mode but she is capable of more. Gray and his cinematographer provide style when it matters but I think he is mostly responsible for the rather heavy feel to the entire film and it does rather suck the energy out of the film.

I'm not suggesting that this film should have been zingy and "fun" but just that it is sombre to the point of being a bit too much like hard work at times. In terms of content, characters and themes I found that it all worked but that this sense of weight did affect it. Still a solid film that is dramatically satisfying in an old fashioned way but these issues do prevent it being as memorable as it could have been.

Before you say nighty-nite tonight, I invite you to take reading proprietorship on my film review of Director James Gray's police drama "We Own The Night". Gray's grayscale directorial techniques were impressive in helming a film on two brothers subdivided by the arm of the law in a crime-ridden New York society. Joaquin Phoenix does stellar work portraying Bobby Green, a rebellious club manager who bickers with his police captain brother and deputy chief father due to the fact that the club he manages is run by a Russian mafia even though Bobby does not deal in criminal activity with those White Russians. Mark Wahlberg is cool as an iceberg as Bobby's aforementioned po-po brother Captain Joe Grusinksy. Wahlberg seems to excel in roles that call for him to play the fiery law enforcement official as he did in his Oscar-nominated performance in "The Departed". I think Mr. Dirk Diggler himself digs to be typecast in that role! Robert Duvall pops it up as Bobby and Joe's po-po papa Deputy Chief Bert Grusinsky. Eva Mendez rounds out the "We Own The Night" role call lineup as Bobby's Latina girlfriend Amada Juarez. The gray areas that James Gray nocturnally takes us into in "We Own The Night" are suspenseful, enthralling, and familial. Gray's takes on society's perception on law enforcement and commitment to the family system are well-enforced throughout the narrative's continuing plot developments. The only cinematic citation I have for Gray's effort would be on his mechanical action-flick screenplay in reference to the characters' dialogue; even though the plot structure was not worthy of an arrested development. Nevertheless, "We Own The Night" has plenty of night fever for it to warrant a lawful recommendation. **** Good

We Own the Night (2007) is a powerful film based on a dark atmosphere, literally and figuratively. First of all, many, if not most, scenes are shot at night with an obvious aesthetic sense. Then, the topic deals with the violent conflict between the Russian underworld and the NYPD, within the Brooklyn of the 80s. It's an ultimate film noir: crime, treason, jealousy and fatalism are themes adroitly developed by James Gray and marvelously interpreted by an awesome cast. Robert Duvall is a honest and accomplished policeman, a wise and protector father, Eva Mendes is a deliberately inflammatory woman, Mark Wahlberg is the ideal son and then Joaquin Phoenix is the 'second' son with a slightly tortured mind and who seeks his own place in the shadow of his family. In my humble opinion, this movie is clearly underrated. As a synthesis: 8/9 of 10.