Friday, January 18, 2013

MOVIE REVIEW - Broken City

A pretty big cast was called together for the new thriller, Broken City.   

BC stars Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Barry Pepper in this movie about dirty New York City cops, elections and politicians.   Wahlberg on his own has become a pretty big box office draw over the past few years, and his movies generally find a younger and loyal audience.

This is the story of a disgraced ex-cop Billy (Wahlberg) who now is a cut-rate private detective.  He is hired by the mayor of NYC (Crowe) to find out who is having and affair with this wife, (Zeta-Jones.)  So Billy and his trusty assistant Katy (Alona Tal) go to work and quickly nail the case down, and it all seems too easy.  Reason is, that he really had been hired to find something else out. And unknown to Billy, actually becomes the fall guy in the whole ordeal.

Enter then the Chief Of Police, and a boat load of other city officials and this quickly becomes a thriller that has twists and turns a plenty.  And in the end, this is actually a decent movie. Although with this cast assembled, you may be expecting more.  I know I was.

Wahlberg produced, and starred in movies are always rather entertaining.  The trouble that is brewing is that they all are starting to have the same style, look, and swagger.  It almost feels at times like he's wearing the same costumes as the last movie he was in, and might be using the same music too.  Of course he's not, but there is a sense of sameness that is taking over these movies.  Lucky for him, the new Pain And Gain which is due out soon, looks to be a vastly different project with a new story line, and seems to be blazing a new trail and that's good news.

Wahlberg and Crowe deliver nice performances although Crowe seems over casted here, as does Zeta-Jones.  She especially has minimal screen time, and Crowe, although in a leading role seems unchallenged here.  I really liked Alona Tal though in her small role as the trusted and loyal Katy.  She was incredibly charming, and added a nice soft touch this movie desperately needed.  I think in the end, the real limits of this movie are created by the script.  There just is not enough here. This story seems more suited for a Law And Order episode than a feature length movie.

Broken City.  For January, it's fine.

1 comment:

Valentina said...

Broken City had the potential to become a great suspense thriller. Instead it becomes a run of the mill movie. Two powerful actors Russell Crowe and Catherine Zeta-Jones have been completely wasted in the movie. The movie moves around too many things instead of concentrating to remain a suspense thriller and director loses the plot completely.