 Starring Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix; Directed by James Gray
Bobby (Phoenix) manages Brooklyn’s El Caribe nightclub, a
glittering, cavernous palace where the rich and powerful mingle with criminals
and drug lords.
From the opening shots it’s clear that we’re in for a tense
and violent ride. Bobby experiences it first when his NYPD brother and father
bust the joint in search of a Russian gangster. Director James Gray steers a
tight course as two converging stories play out against an escalating war on
drugs.
Before the 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. 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 just that: entertainment.
The film is further unhinged by Wahlberg’s lacklustre
performance, which can’t find the cinematic sizzle such an aggressive
relationship demands. Duvall also treads the familiar, though both are saved by
a magnetic Phoenix.
Gray’s uncertain script mixes the cerebral with the
audience-pleasing, so that when it’s firing, We Own The Night really fires. Unfortunately, too often it’s firing
blanks.
 |
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form