DVD
REVIEW: WE OWN THE NIGHT
02/10/08
Writer-Director James Gray
teams up with Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahllberg to create
"We Own the Night", a crime thriller with a 1970's police
drama feel. This film received a big buzz after its premier
in last years Cannes Film Festival. The movie marks the
second production with James Gray as writer-director and
Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix in the starring roles,
after working together in the 2000's film "The Yards". The
only difference is that this time around Mark and Phoenix
are part of the production team. With an estimate cost of
$32 millions dollars and a $32 million collection at the box
office the film was considered a failure in its theatrical
run, but for sure it will make more than that after its DVD
release on February 12, 2007.
Set in 1988 in New York City "We Own The Night" tells the
story of two brothers whose lives are going in opposite
directions. Bobby (Joaquin Phoenix) who is the manager of a
popular nightclub owned by a Russian family in love with the
party scene and his brother Joseph (Mark Wahlberg) an
up-and-coming NYPD officer. But in the middle of New York's
drug trade involving Russian gangsters, Bobby will be force
to take a side in this war between police and gangsters.
The film is a good police drama, however if we take a closer
look at the movie, it will be easy to see that the film
doesn't bring anything new to the genre. If you have seeing
police dramas from the 1970's and 1980's, there is a good
chance that you have seen this story before. This factor
takes away the possibility of a surprise ending or a twist
just ten minutes into the movie. The term "predictable
movie" is very overused term when talking about a film, but
in this case there is no other way to describe this story.
The cast performance were ok with Joaquin Phoenix basically
leading the film. I still don't understand why James Gray
cast so many big time Hollywood stars for his supporting
roles (Robert Duvall, Mark Wahlberg and Eva Mendes), when
clearly this was a one Hollywood star film. The only reason
that comes to mind is that he was trying to upscale the film
by giving it more star power. Unfortunately this was not the
case in this film, since the performance by Robert Duval,
Mark Wahlberg and Eva Mendez were just okay and the story
didn't help much.
Where James Gray gets most of his credit for this film, is
in his direction. The feel and look of the movie takes
audiences back to the 1970s style of filming. Also James
managed to create one of the most unique scenes in recent
years , a car chase scene under a torrential rain that is
the highlight of the film.
VIDEO:
1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
AUDIO:
English,
Spanish and French
5.1 (Dolby Digital).
Subtitles - English Spanish - Optional
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Commentary with Writer and Director James Gray
Tension: Creating We Own The Night Director,
producer and cast talk about how the film came to
live(15:14)
Police Action: Filming Cops, Cars and Chaos A
nice behind the scenes on how the raining car chase was
created (10:21)
A
Moment In Crime: Creating Late 80's Brooklyn The
director and producers talk about how the 80s feel was
create for the film. (8:59)
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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