We Own the Night - B

In Theatres, 117 minutes, Rated R. Trailer.

We Own the Night (the name comes from an NYPD motto of the late 80's) is propelled forward by the combustible cocktail of cops, the Russian mafia (the gangsters de jour in tinseltown this fall), drugs, families split apart, and Eva Mendes in never-been-sexier mode. Joaquin Phoenix, more mush-mouthed than usual, stars as prodigal son Bobby Green, who stepped away from the true-NYC- Blue of his father (Robert Duvall) and brother Joseph Grasinsky (Mark Wahlberg), to work his way up in the New York club scene circa 1988. Eva Mendes plays club hostess Amad Juarez, girlfriend to Bobby and the only one who knows his family’s heritage. Amad and Bobby are faithful to each other and bring an air of legitimacy to the drug-fueled circles in which they run. Even as his brother is promoted to lead a NARC task force aimed at taking down ruthless Russian drug czar Vadim Nazhinski (an excellent Alex Veadov, who sees murder as a necessary part of business, to be neither loathed nor enjoyed), Bobby is selling his dream of an uber-club in Manhatten to Nazhinski’s uncle, setting up an inevitable collision between Bobby’s family and job. Unfortunately, that collision comes at about the halfway point, at which the major internal tension driving the film (Joaquin’s ultimate allegiances) has already been resolved. New tensions are added (Who will survive? Will Amad and Bobby make it work?) but none become central. What’s more, the club scenes, which give the film raw attractiveness and power early on, are replaced by sad hotels and middle-class houses. So, while the last third of the film has some dynamite scenes, there is not much of a motor left driving the film.

The cinematography of this film is great, allowing the audience to be an additional participant in many of the scenes. This is particularly true in a spectacularly shot car chase shown from Bobby’s perspective. The action and accidents come in slow-motion, but also possess an inevitable quality, exactly the feeling of being in an accident. Blue filters are used to good effect in the beginning of the film to delineate between cop-controlled and mafia-controlled areas. The acting is also good, if at times overdone, especially as the pressure begins to mount. I think this is a function of good actors working with an average script (by James Gray, who also directs). This is most glaring in a crucial meltdown between Eva Mendes and Joaquin Phoenix. They are both trying to say too much in their inflection and actions because the words their asked to speak are so hokey and obvious.

This is ultimately an above-average movie masquerading as Oscar-fare through the use of bold camera work and quality actors. This is Gray’s third film (he also directed and wrote The Yards and Little Odessa) in fifteen years. He possesses a good visual eye and understands the importance of having a plot with real conflicts. It’d be nice to see him putting out films more often than every seven years. At this rate he’ll be ready to retire before he’s putting out his best material. B