Director James Gray (THE YARDS) posits two distinctly different brothers--Joseph (Mark Wahlberg) and Bobby Grusinsky (Joaquin Phoenix)--as the central characters in this crime-infested thriller. Joseph and Bobby inhabit two conflicting worlds in late 1980s New York, the former becoming a cop and the latter running a nightclub. Bobby spends his evenings in a den of iniquity, indulging in drugs, alcohol, and gambling, and his model-like girlfriend Amada (Eva Mendes) is never far from his arm. Their two worlds meet when the father of the two men, Burt (Robert Duvall), who is also a cop, gets together with Joseph to ask Bobby for information about a patron of the club named Vadim (Alex Veadov). Vadim is the nephew of the club's owner, and also a dangerous member of the Russian criminal underworld. Bobby sides with Vadim, and the tension in Gray's brother-versus-brother potboiler reaches melting point as Joseph goes after both his sibling and his Russian foe.
Wahlberg, Phoenix, and Duvall all deliver high-caliber performances throughout, and Gray suffuses the plot with enough twists and turns to provide a few surprises. New York City is perfectly utilized as a backdrop to the action, and cinematographer Joaquin Baca-Asay manages to get the balance between moody, atmospheric shots and explosive action sequences just right. WE OWN THE NIGHT ultimately resembles an old-fashioned cop film with a little Scorsese-like drama thrown in for good measure, and is likely to gain a following among movie fans seeking retro crime thrills.
Theatrical Release: October 12, 2007
DVD Features:
Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 - English, French, Spanish
Subtitles - English - Closed Captioned
Subtitles - English, French, Spanish - Optional
Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary: James Gray - Director
Featurette:
1. "Police Action: Filming Cops, Cars, and Chaos"
2. "A Moment in Crime: Creating Late 80's Brooklyn"
Director of Photography
Joaquin Baca-Asay: Director of Photography, SUPER TROOPERS (2001)
Review 1:
"[With] some fine performances from Wahlberg and Phoenix....Also effective is Mendes..."
Source: Box Office
p.48 10/01/2007
Review 2:
3 stars out of 5 -- "WE OWN THE NIGHT emerges as a solid, professional job with a keenly observed sense of time and place..."
Source: Total Film
p.54 01/01/2008
Review 3:
3 stars out of 4 -- "WE OWN THE NIGHT is defiantly, refreshingly unhip....You're in the presence of a born filmmaker."
Source: Rolling Stone
p.132 10/18/2007
Review 4:
4 stars out of 5 -- "Three superbly orchestrated shoot-outs are up there with the best of the genre..."
Source: Uncut
p.127 01/01/2008
Review 5:
"Phoenix's performance is magnetic here....The film's velvety matte look -- attractively shot by Joaquin Baca-Asay -- proves slinkily seductive."
Source: Sight and Sound
p.90 01/01/2008
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