The Agency's Posts

Happy 4th of July Everyone !: Enjoy the long weekend & have a fantastic 4th everyone!
Read More>

Hero Rides Again, With Big Boots to Fill: Hero Rides Again, With Big Boots to Fill In ‘The Lone Ranger,’ Tonto Takes Center....
Read More>

Robert Plant: Ever forward, evermore: The former Led Zeppelin frontman is not content to hang out on memory lane. For a man whose....
Read More>

Review: NBC's 'Crossing Lines' shoots for global action: Fast-paced and entertaining, the new show lands in a variety of European locales in its pursuit of....
Read More>

'The Heat' gleefully plays with the buddy cop genre: "The Heat"has all the elements you'd expect from a buddy cop movie — the....
Read More>

Magnificent 'Wild Horses: Running horses and helicopter.Wild Horses, a film by Director Stephanie Martin and....
Read More>

'The Heat': Bullock, McCarthy 'like sisters' at N.Y. premiere: NEW YORK — While promoting a film, most actors wax poetic about how fantastic their....
Read More>

Review: 'Under the Dome' seems in a rush to tell a good story: The CBS adaptation of Stephen King's tale of a small town mysteriously trapped looks promising,....
Read More>

'World War Z' gets a rise from the undead: With a manic energy (those zombies) and a charismatic leading man (Brad Pitt), the smartly done....
Read More>

Howard Stern has tough 'Tonight Show' advice for Jimmy Fallon: Never one to mince words,Howard Sternhad some tough advice forJimmy Fallonabout the latter's....
Read More>

3 Helpful Tips to Eliminate Nerves On an Audition!: by Gwen Alyssa Do you ever feel those sweaty palms coming on or notice your hands start to shake....
Read More>

Melissa McCarthy Goes Over the Top: Rising celebrity means she can have roles rewritten for her; and it has made her a target for....
Read More>

Man of Steel: Part Man, Part God, All Hunk: Part Man, Part God, All Hunk ‘Man of Steel’ Depicts a Striving Stranger in a....
Read More>
Movie review: Good cops on mean streets in 'End of Watch'
Posted on: 10/02/12
Share/Save/Bookmark
 

David Ayer's gritty, humorous and moving film stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena as police officers on the beat in South-Central L.A.




From the first tires-squealing, sirens-blaring, guns-blazing car chase to the last quiet conversation, "End of Watch" is a visceral story of beat cops that is rare in its sensitivity, rash in its violence and raw in its humor.

For David Ayer, who has long made the minefield of police work his metier, this blood-drenched and unexpectedly moving film is his best cut yet on what life is like on that thin blue line. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña star as partners fighting crime on the streets of South-Central Los Angeles. Their beat is poverty riddled and gang infested. Drug running, turf wars and lethal grudges that only end badly frame their days. It's all captured with a gritty hand-held intensity that keeps you on edge and unsettled, waiting for the next shoe to drop.

The story is, in a way, an ordinary one — regular cops who aren't corrupt, guys who chalk up any heroics to just doing their job. In a reflection of reality, much of the film is spent with officers Brian Taylor (Gyllenhaal) and Mike Zavala (Peña) in their squad car. The age of cellphone videos has imprinted the film's style. At times they feel barely an arm's length away.

No single bad guy emerges, no one case has to be solved. Instead the film's rhythm is set by the day-in and day-out routine of police work. Ayer has done a solid job of keeping Brian and Mike rocking between boredom and adrenaline-pumping action, starting with Sarge (Frank Grillo), whose admonishments begin their shift, to the streets where they never know what will happen and finally to the paperwork at end of watch. The crime is of the most depressing kind — crack mothers, dead bodies, drugs and even some human trafficking — the scenarios seemingly as random in their placement as the gruesome violence that colors them.

The worst of the worst is a Latino gang with ties to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel that keeps surfacing. They are a scary crew with names like Big Evil (Maurice Compte), Wicked (Diamonique), La La (Yahira Garcia) and Demon (Richard Cabral) and a rage that is full-blown crazy. Garcia and Compte are standouts at channeling anger in stomach-churning ways.

Back in the car, the officers pass the time giving each other grief. A pattern soon emerges, because Mike is running this road show: razzing Brian about his new girlfriend Janet (Anna Kendrick), offering up very graphic relationship advice, regaling him with stories of family life with Gabby (Natalie Martinez), who is pregnant with their first child. Kendrick and Martinez do their job to expose the softer side of their guys, but they are really just a few threads woven into the fabric of the partners' lives. There are other good turns around the edges, especially America Ferrera toughening up for her by-the-book cop and David Harbour as bitter, older officer Van Hauser, who the guys relentlessly prank.

But the only relationship that really matters is the one between Brian and Mike. There is a lot of love in that car, and Peña and Gyllenhaal make you feel it. The easy back and forth between them — topics ranging from raunchy nonsense to philosophical musings — have an organic feel that is hard to come by and usually worth the wait. These moments, seeded through the film, nearly always bring tension-releasing laughter, which we need as much as they do.

In Brian, it feels as if Gyllenhaal has finally found his way back home after struggling through a series of roles that didn't quite fit in the years after his "Brokeback Mountain" breakout. He's got a way of playing things so close to the vest that it requires a character with a rich interior life that he can expose in a look or a laugh. As good as Gyllenhaal is in this, Peña nearly steals the show. From the moment Mike Zavala steps into view, he is an LAPD beat cop in every move he makes — whether duking it out with a drunk or dancing with his wife.

Ayer has been best known until now for his searing script for 2001's "Training Day," also a story of cops in L.A. A proven writer, his previous forays into directing — "Harsh Times" and "Street Kings" — have been less skilled, their cop stories more of the same. "End of Watch" is different — distinctive and street worthy.


COMMENTS
Be the first to post a comment!


Post A Comment:




  • It's 2020! Start booking roles in commercials, fashion, films, theater and more with The Agency Online!

  • NEW WORKSHOP with Barbara Barna & Sean De Simone!

    Hi Everyone and Happy Summer! Sean at Sean De Simone casting and Barbara Barna are teaming up for a super informative and fun Hosting for Home Shopping workshop. A great opportunity for established or experienced TV Hosts and Experts interested in learning how to get noticed and how to get in....
  • MASTERCLASS W. Robin Carus & David John Madore

    A Special Offer for the Agency Community, from one of our favorite NYC Casting Directors! EMAIL FacetheMusicWithUs@gmail.com Or Eventbrite To Sign Up! Class Size is Limited.
  • Don't Fall Into The Comparison Trap

    Hi Everyone! As the second installment in an ongoing series of features by the Agency's amazing community, here's some sage advice from our own Regina Rockensies; a humble (& awesome)veteran we've had the pleasure of working with for a long time. Have an excellent week! : ) - The Agency....
  • One Model's Agreement

    Hi Everyone! As the first piece in an ongoing series of original articles by the Agency community, here's a short reflection on some of the values of professional acting & modeling that we can all keep in mind for our next casting. Good luck on your castings &shoots this week! : ) -....




 
home       castings&news       privacy policy       terms and conditions      contact us      browser tips
Official PayPal Seal