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February 15, 2008

We Own the Night - 6

Inspired by the success of The Departed, this film pits two brothers who seem to be on opposite ends of justice against each other on the streets of New York. Bobby (Joaquin Phoenix), a club owner who keeps questionable company like the Russian mafia and drug peddlers is just trying to stay below the laws radar, while Joseph (Mark Wahlberg) is climbing the ranks toward his father's (Robert Duvall) likeness as chief of police. When the pressure mounts on Bobby, he has to find a way to get past his past, and make the moral choices necessary to love others, and decide who he really is. The film focuses on loyalty, and the tensions we find in life as many people and things contend for our loyalty.

1 comment:

Chris said...

Yea. I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one. I gave it a 3 out of 5 stars on Netflix solely because of Marky Mark.

I think the film should have been called Joaquin Phoenix is a bad ass because that's really all I got out of the movie.

I mean sure there's loyalty and family and what not, but when it came down to it the movie seemed petty. Joaquin is a great manager, killer, and finally valedictorian of his police acadmey class. It made his brother looked like underachieving wuss.

I say skip it and spend the leftover time watching The Departed again.