We Own the Night (2007)

I see that in the end I didn't manage to get rid of the 2nd option that I had last time (= still didn't see much this week). Therefore I'll stop to "We Own the Night" since I'm too lazy to dig in my brain for something more worthy to review ...

The movie is another "mafia/police" story, in a subgenre relatively often met in Hollywood, being somewhere at the intersection of "Brooklyn's Finest"/"Pride and Glory" with I don't know .. let's say "The Departed" (although I'm getting a bit too high with this reference). In brief, Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) enjoys the nice life of a successful night club manager. Until a police raid organized by his own brother (Mark Wahlberg) reminds him again why he calls himself Green (from his mother's side), and not Grusinski as the rest of his relatives in a blue uniform. Not that it would be any problem with the owner, a nice old guy with a business on importing furs straight from the mother Russia, but unfortunately the owner has also a nephew less orthodox in behavior (and his fellow thugs the same) who's spending most of his time in the same club. And like that Bobby gets trapped between a family for who he's the black sheep and another one for who he's quite close to get on a black list due to his kindred long arm of the law. How grey is the compromise he makes .. can be seen in the movie ...

I don't have too much to say. I've already made a comparison with other titles which positions the movie quite well. So, if you're in the mood for a thriller in this genre, without looking for something very special, it might be a good choice. We have a direction and a script by James Gray who (although I've seen only "Little Odessa" long long ago) seems to be quite "fixed" on this niche. As actors, except the ones mentioned (not in their best roles), I should mention Robert Duvall (who seems to give some class to the young generation) and .. well .. Eva Mendes (very very subjective on this :P). Except this .. I don't know .. a nice shot car chase and an ending maybe a bit too "correct" for a story that wants to be more close to what you see on the crime news section ...

Rating: 3 out of 5