Post by ronnierocketago on Mar 17, 2008 10:17:58 GMT
WE OWN THE NIGHT (2007) - ***1/2
During this movie's opening sequence, where we see Joaquin Phoenix get his freak on with Eva Mendes where he practically masturbates her, I had a few questions:
(1) Mr. Phoenix, how lucky are you?
(2) Did he smell his fingers afterwards?
(3) Could this movie have better acting than THE DEPARTED?
Now, let me get this clear quickly. THE DEPARTED is a better movie by a long shot, and that movie has great acting in it (in spite of Jack Nicholson playing Jack Nicholson), and to answer my question, technically neither THE DEPARTED or WE OWN THE NIGHT have superior acting work than the other.
But, what WE OWN THE NIGHT has over THE DEPARTED is chemistry. That jack-off sequence contains so much lust and heat between Phoenix and Mendes, they actually seem like a real couple. Not two movie stars thrown together, but you buy the romance...which for a gritty crime/cop drama, is sorta refreshing for me.
Its also a nice breath of fresh air in how writer/director James Gray handles her character. Let's admit it, its a useless character, or at best a supporting prop for the film's protagonist. In such crime/drama tales, such women are almost always either a double-crossing femme fatale who, or an soon-to-be-murdered corpse to give more "drama" and melodrama suffering for the hero.
That said, she is still a supporting prop for Phoenix, but because you believe in the romance, it makes the downward spiral of that relationship in the midst of this drug war actually work for its intended purposes for the narrative. Its a cliche that works.
In fact, maybe that is the best thing that could be said about Gray's screenplay. In terms of plot or action scenes or even in dialogue, its nothing unique. However, it gives all the leads involved a basketball to play with, and they slam dunk with it.
Many critics have complained of how they hate that the script never explains why exactly Phoenix is estranged from his cop commander pops Robert Duvall and his detective brother Mark Whalberg. A legit complaint, but with the chemistry between all three, such questions are easily answered.
This is especially true in the film segments after Whalberg is shot, and Phoenix goes from being an apathetic non-participating guy in the war between the cops and the Russian mob to that of a wired-informant. Afterwards, Duvall's body language and tone is different with his son.
What before was clear contempt and anger for his seed becomes one of love and pride. A hack filmmaker would have a pointless scene where Duvall would spell out in detail why exactly Phoenix has changed within his eyes, but this movie knows it doesn't need such nonsense. We know why.
I also quite dug how very much like Michael Cimino's underrated crime drama YEAR OF THE DRAGON, we feel the bitter attrition that this one family suffers with from their war with the Mob. One side strikes, the other strikes back harder, the escalation of retaliation continues on until the action finale.
It wears and tears on everyone, and like Mickey Rourke's war against John Lone in Cimino's movie...for the ultimate resolution, the price paid is very high.
Maybe the script and direction might fall for you, but really folks I suggest you go see this movie at least for the acting and the booming soundtrack. I mean, name the last movie involving a dance nightclub where when the camera shows us the bundled grooving masses for the first time, we actually feel energized.