WE OWN THE NIGHT
WE OWN THE NIGHT |
 |
A successfull night club manager has to choose between his police family and Russian gangsters who've looked after him. | score 3+ |
moviereview rates films from 1 (unwatchable) to 5 (unmissable) |
| FIND A MOVIEREVIEW |
| Cast Joaquin Phoenix, Eva Mendes, Mark Wahlberg, Robert Duvall Director James Gray Screenwriter James Gray Country USA Rating / Running Time MA / 117 minutes Australian Release February 2008 Official Site (c) moviereview
2006-2008
ABN 72 775 390 361 |
Bobby
(Phoenix) manages Brooklyn’s El Caribe nightclub, a glittering,
cavernous palace where the rich and powerful mingle with criminals and
drug lords. Largely, they’re the same people. From the opening
shots it’s clear that director James Gray (Little Odessa)
has been living on a steady diet of mid-Scorcese, and that we’re
in a for a tense and violent ride. Bobby experiences it first hand when
his brother Joey (Wahlberg), a NYPD hotshot, busts the joint in search
of a Russian gangster. He gets away, Bobby ends up in jail. Gray steers his Cannes nominee on a tight course as two converging stories play out against the escalating war on drugs, and the NYPD’s rallying cry – we own the night. Where Bobby had remained an impartial, if hedonistic, observer, Joey and his father (Duvall), another respected officer, coerce him to join sides. It’s dangerous work, not everyone will survive. Before an over-boiled and lingering finale, We Own The Night plays a hard game of cat-and-cat. A scene-stealing car chase is one of the best staged for sheer, dramatic realism and Gray utilises the late-80’s period to great effect, creating an atmospheric entertainment that is dripping in blood, sex and tension. It comes then, as something of a disappointment to realise that such prodigious talent should boil down to that, an entertainment. The Departed 2 it is not. He’s further unhinged by a lack-lustre performance from Wahlberg who can’t find the cinematic sizzle such an aggressive relationship with his brother demands. Duvall also treads the familiar though both are saved by a magnetic Phoenix. Gray’s uncertain script mixes the cerebral with the audience-pleaser such that when it’s firing, We Own The Night really fires. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. // COLIN FRASER |