Broken City

Broken City (2013)

A familiar zone that gets freshened up with a fast plot, some great acting, and a series of twists that never ends.

At first this seems to be a cop story, then a cop story involving the mayor as he runs for office. The mayor is played with such conviction and charm by Russell Crowe you end up rooting for him even as the plot clearly turns against him. But more important is the cop, vilified and with dubious ethics, played by Mark . He's tough, easily duped, and eventually principled—depending on what your principles are.

Beyond the plot (which I'll get to) and the clashing of big personalities (which works), what makes this movie tick is how well it's made. Those prosaic things like editing and photography really meld and take on a force that sucks you in without exaggeration or affectation. It's a straight ahead film in many ways, but invested with intensity and solidity enough to make it really commanding, despite some holes in the plot.

Why the unfavorable response by so many? This might be helpful before diving in. The key is some kind of believability. Wahlberg plays a troubled cop in a troubled relationship (which is a cliché of these kinds of movies), and then becomes a low level detective taking sneaky pictures of adulterous situations. And as a photography myself I have to say this part of the movie is rotten stupid—the way he hides is one thing (bad) but the way he uses his camera is just silly. And getting results (which we are told about later) that are impossible given what we were shown earlier.

Then there is the motivation behind it al, which I can't reveal (and which won't be clear until the end, if even quite then). Since the movie has no real tricks up its sleeve, it depends on a convincing series of events, which it doesn't quite have. The events taken one by one are bold and well done, sometimes very well done, but they don't quite accelerate into a coherent, gripping plot.

For those who watch movies for what happens (the action, the plot), this will be a struggle. But if you also get into the ambiance, the acting, and the visuals, you might give it a shot. I watched it straight through and was interested all along. Maybe I kept holding out hope that it would gel by the end (it does not), but if that's what it takes to watch it, give that a try!

Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) is a New York city cop who got off on a technicality following his execution of a supposed rapist/murder. Discharged from the force by his Captain (Jeffrey Wright), Taggart is viewed highly by Mayor Hostetler (Russell Crowe) for taking out the trash with a common thug. Seven years later, Hostetler, amidst a re- election battle against golden boy city councilman Jack Valliant (Barry Pepper), hires Taggart to find out who is sleeping with his gorgeous wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones). As Taggart follows, he uncovers a much larger conspiracy.

In his first solo outing, Allen Hughes (one half of the Hughes brothers that brought us "The Book of Eli") now offers a stylish, dark vision of corruption in New York. The ladies are beautiful and all have something to hide, the men are violent and vicious and the story is ripped out of countless true-to-life headlines. "Broken City" lives up to its name and fires a slug packed with intrigue and intelligence. That doesn't necessarily translate to mean "clever".

The story sold in the trailer is a bit misleading, but perhaps that's the point. Mayor Hostetler's hiring of the true-blue cop Taggart is only a minor segment of a much larger puzzle. It involves cops, businessmen, and politicians in bribery and exploitation with a prize that all but Billy seem to seek: power. Overall that is the film's theme and it more than adequately conveys it. If you understand that and aren't looking for much else, "Broken City" is your ticket.

As I was watching the film I kept thinking that there must have been some significant cutting and re-editing. Perhaps the original cut was too dry so they added in some scenes and cut some to make the film seem more edgy. But it doesn't seem as edgy as it could have been. A number of subplots (for instance Billy's actress girlfriend, or the undeveloped father-son relationship between two of the villains) go nowhere and remain unresolved when the screen goes black. I felt much the same way.

Mark Wahlberg does an excellent job playing Mark Wahlberg, a role he was born to play. Catherine Zeta-Jones is as beautiful and commanding as ever in a role that is too short for the movie. But it is Russell Crowe who devours his scenes with the political intensity I would suppose is necessary for any real Mayor of New York. Even as the script built around Billy lags, Crowe tears apart his role. He shows why he is truly one of the best actors in the business.

The supporting cast of this film are as much a draw as the leads. Jeffrey Wright, the usual supporting character with more power than he lets on, plays the secretive Police Commissioner. His character is introduced as a stock role but ends up being much more. Kyle Chandler has a small role that deserved to be expanded. Barry Pepper, who wasn't even featured in the trailer, is the only actor in the film with the same bravado as Crowe. His scenes, particularly one with Wright and Wahlberg, are indicative of why he should be the one on the poster, now buried in the bottom credits.

Overall "Broken City" kept my attention but left me hungry for more. I suppose that is all you can ask for at the movies. I would take this ride again.

Broken City has many flaws, yet I was still surprisingly entertained the entire way through. Russell Crowe was the highlight of the movie, not a surprise, as he's one of the best actors of his generation. Mark Wahlberg was pretty good too, although he wasn't very likable. An election's happening, Crowe is the dirt bag of a mayor, and an election's coming up. Although it seems Crowe was supposed to be the bad guy, his opponent wasn't likable at all, and I was rooting for the corrupt mayor the entire time. The supporting cast in general wasn't spectacular, although Kyle Chandler plays his part well. The film was written averagely, the story wasn't that great, and the direction was simple, yet as I stated earlier, I had a good time.

***SPOILERS*** Dirty & sleazy New York City politics at its worse is depicted in the movie "Broken City" with ex-cop and now bedroom dick private eye Billy Taggert, Mark Wahlberg, being hired by NYC Mayor Hostetler, Russell Crowe, to investigate his sexy wife, that he's estranged from, Cathleen, Catherine Zeta-Jones, to see if she' having an illicit affair that can hurt his chances of being re-elected.

As it turns out Taggart uncovers a number of secret meetings that Cathleen has been having with non other then Paul Andrews, Kyle Chandler, who just happens to be his opponent in the mayoral race out of state and accused carpetbagger Jack Valliant, Barry Pepper. Valliant has been peppering his campaign with stories that Mayor Hostetler has been involved with a Donald Trump like building mogul who's trying to grab the Bolton Village Project and displace its 37,000 middle income inhabitants replacing it with high rise luxury condos!

As it soon turned out that the Mayor has an ace up his sleeve that he's using to keep Taggart on a short lease and under his control that has to do with a shooting that he was involved seven years ago in gunning down suspected rapist and all around low life Mikey Tavarez, Louis Tolentino, that cost him has job as a New York City policeman. It's when Taggart found out that he's been used by Mayor Hostetler to not really find out who his wife was having an affair with but to have Paul Anbdrews set up for a hit to keep him from talking, about the truth behind the Bolton Village Project, that everything about this entire plan fell into place. Now faced with a murder charge hanging over his head in the Tavarez shooting that Mayor Hostetler has video proof of Taggart seems helpless to expose him. That's unless he's willing to face the consequences that goes along with it!

***MAJOR SPOILERS*** The movie shows just how sleazy and corrupt people in power really are going as far as murder to keep the truth about their actions from being exposed. Taggart who wasn't all that clean himself at least woke up and smelled the coffee in what he was now involved in and it stunk to high heaven. With nothing to lose but his freedom Taggart did in the end the right thing which at least cleared his consciences of not going along with Mayor Hostetler's cover up of both his connections to Andrews' murder but also the Bolton Village Project as well. Which had him end up being a cell-mate with Billy Taggart in Sing Sing Prison!

I give this a five for the cast, but a two for the obtuse and predictable script, which inexplicably appeared on the Black List of best unproduced scripts -- in which category it should have remained. In development hell for years, it should at the very least have undergone a major rewrite to simplify the story (which wanders all over the place and becomes dumber by the minute) and raised the tone up out of the gutter. Whichever studio execs placed this on the Black List need to stop sniggering over the dirty words and earn their money by figuring out just what constitutes a good script. Wahlberg is always a pleasure to spend time with but the phoniness of so many of the scenes and the clunkiest car chase ever defeat even his efforts to entertain. So much of this movie is predictable and so many scenes are actors simply going through their paces with inferior material. The gorgeous, gorgeous Catherine Zeta Jones is totally wasted in this piece of dreck. Somewhere in this movie there may originally have been a good idea about corruption in the city. Unfortunately nobody appears to have had the courage to grab it by the throat, beat it into shape and present it to the public with any wit, style or originality. Like it says in the header, this is painting by numbers.