I am sure everyone can recall that two weeks ago I did a list of the five movies I was most excited about as the end of the year approached and you can recall that this movie was featured on the list. The trailer was very well done and the actors are all very good and Eva Mendes is incredibly sexy, so it would be a slam dunk. However, some reviews started rolling in and they were a mixed bag to say the least. Some loved it and some hated it. Last night on Ebert and Roeper, again they were mixed. I was not too terribly put off by those reviews because remember, my reviews are the only ones that matter, after all. Well tonight was the night for Erik and I to go watch the movie. So, would it live up to my expectation?
Bobby Green(Joaquin Phoenix) is a man on the way up. He is running a big successful night club, he has a gorgeous girlfriend, Amanda Juarez(Eva Mendes) and nothing can stop his party like free wheeling, drug doing 1980's excess life style. Oh and he is part of a family of cops. His brother Joe Grusinksky(Mark Wahlberg) and father Burt Grusinsky(Robert Duvall)are celebrating a promotion and Bobby must attend. At the celebration Bobby is ambushed by his brother who wants information about a drug dealer who has been spotted inside Bobby's club. Bobby tells them nothing and the club gets raided the next day. After a tragic event Bobby begins to think he has been on the wrong side all along. Without telling his family, he hooks up with another cop and goes under cover to try and help catch the drug dealer. The movie goes on, more tragedy happens and the movie takes turns that seem unexpected and not shown in the trailer so I do not want to give anything else away.
Allow me to begin by saying that any movie that opens with Eva Mendes pleasuring herself is amazing in my book, no joke. It is just the way it is. Yet this movie does not rely on its opening sequence awesomeness to make the entire movie. Joaquin Phoenix is an actor I have always wanted to like but have never been able to fully get behind, well until this movie. This guy straight up owns this movie. His character goes through about 3 or 4 total breakdowns and transitions and Phoenix is all over all of them. His steely eyed resolve, his total complete all out bawling fits and his one big giant explosion of emotions all over his girlfriend all come naturally to him and I think he deserves some kind of nomination for this movie. While the trailer may lead one to believe he and Wahlberg share duties, Phoenix has the lions share of the work. That is not to say Wahlberg isn't good because he is. He is very good and no one looks better in police blues. He just fits them. His bristling intensity is always there but there is something more we see of him later in the movie that surprised me. For her part, well, Mendes does well. She gets the feelings of sorrow and hurt right, she looks amazing and she actually adds to the movie. Duvall also lends a veteran appeal to a possible stock nothing character.
As good as all the acting is, the directing is even better. James Grey who is directing only his third movie in over a decade has been saving it all up for this movie. He loves really tight shots focusing on the faces of these characters and it adds a serious level of intensity. he also knows how to create mood by getting rid of all sound except what we absolutely need. There is a scene where Phoenix is just walking down a hall and while it would be intense anyway, the fact that we see almost nothing and all we can hear is his breathing just sets everyone on the edge of their chair. Also, there is a car chase so intimate I got claustrophobic for a few seconds. Where most chases shoot almost all from outside or from the side in the car, Grey turns the camera as if we are seeing or witnessing this car chase as it is actually happening. It was excellent. The climax is also shot incredibly well. Everyone is weaving through these tall weeds and there is no music and the camera moves between first and third person with such ease that you don't even realize it at first. There is a very short section shot in that shaky camera nonsense, but it does not derail the movie because he gets away from it quickly.
The movie does get away from what you expect and I think that bothered some people. Joaquin's character makes such a drastic change that some found it hard to buy, but I think if you put yourself in the shows of Bobby Green and what was raised with, I think it is 100% believable. I could not ask for anything else from this movie except I was hoping for a bigger shoot out, but they made up for it with some seriously awesome shots in the tall weeds. Phoenix really proved himself to me here and that is all that matters right? I am glad this movie lived up to what I hope, but I think I could understand if someone didn't like it. The classic 80's look of the buildings and set pieces added an extra sense of realism for me, but I am not sure most people would notice. I think everyone should go see this movie, and every guy should make sure they are not late!
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