Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg team up to produce and act in this Crime / Drama / Thriller, in a movie that’s as much about family dynamics as it is about war between drug cartels and police forces.
It’s about a family, a father & a son in the police force - and another son, who manages a busy night club. This second (seemingly prodigal) son, with a completely hedonistic lifestyle (starkly contrasting with the holier-than-thou images of both his father & brother) slowly by virtue of his job, gets sucked into a drug cartel against his wishes. He is faced with classic dilemmas of family versus career & reputation, good versus evil, finally life versus death.
Though this is not an action film (it’s mostly drama) the movie moves along quickly and is interesting enough, but somehow after ‘The Departed’, this seems rather less for Wahlberg. Phoenix is brilliant in the main role however, the role completely became him.
Eye candy & a brilliant performance (though most men, I’m betting only paid attention to the former) by Eva Mendes, who sizzled in every which way in the movie as Phoenix’s girlfriend.
Not a date movie definetely, this movie is filled with lots of blood and gore - including a scene where a man slits his own neck - and you see the blood gushing & spurting out.
The movie is scary, moving and makes you think all at once. Coming home we had a long discussion on whether drugs should be legalized (surprise surprise, I’m against that) and the implications of the legalization of drugs and it’s effects on society as a whole.
Tags: Drug Cartels, Eva Mendes, Joaquin Phoenix, Legalization of Drugs, Mark Wahlberg, Police, Robert Duvall, We Own the Night
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February 11th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Joaquin Phoenix - totally watchable, major star-power here!
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Wahlberg - Wasted (in a non-narcotic sense
Mendez - I like here but I think you’re giving her looks more credit than they deserve.
Overall - 6.5/10 - quite watchable.
PS: Since you caught this on the big screen, I’m wondering how much of the “love” scene was actually chopped off by our butchers censors.
February 11th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Lol, looks like “our butchers” were hard at work with this film. I knew something wasn’t quite right when Phoenix & Mendes’ characters fight. The next time her name is mentioned, apparently she’s left him (no explanation at all!)
On Eva though, I have to say, the person next to me kept OOOHING and AAAHING so much, I had no option but to give her that much credit.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Did the chop of the very first scene where Eva mendes keeps herself very busy?
February 12th, 2008 at 3:44 pm