Pride and Glory
Review
by Sean Lynch
View Trailer: Pride & Glory
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You really have to wonder if there has ever been a
single clean cop in the entire history of the NYPD.
Because if Hollywood is correct (and they are very rarely wrong...
aside from making Carrot Top a movie star) every single cop that has
ever existed is doing something a little bit dodgy.
The only problem with that is, after a while, it gets very difficult to
make the subject matter entertaining or fresh.
So what to make of Pride
& Glory really depends on whether or not audiences
are willing to ignore every single one of the last thirty
sub-par corrupt New York cop dramas that have plagued cinemas in the
last five years.
This latest one (which by all accounts has been sitting on the shelf
for quite a few years... Thanks a lot Street Kings!) does
have one thing on it's side - star power and street cred thanks to
turns from Edward
Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight and Noah Emmerich.
This gritty and
emotional multi-generational police
family drama (surprise, surprise, they're Irish) sets off after
four
New York City cops are found dead, killed in an ambush that has the
entire
police department on alert and on edge.
With a cop killer on the loose
and so much riding on the case, Chief of Manhattan Detectives Francis
Tierney Sr (Jon Voight) asks his son, Detective Ray Tierney (Edward
Norton), to lead the investigation against Ray's wishes.
But what cop drama would be a cop drama without a "damaged cop" taking
on "one last case" that forces him to "confront his damaged past".
Of course, things soon get sticky when it starts becoming apparent that
the ties that bind the family (including Ray's brother and
brother-in-law) start to come loose as soon as the truth sifts to the
surface.
Despite some solid turns from Norton and Farrell (who for some reason
are still sitting on the A-List despite the fact neither have
had any major box office hits) and Jon Voight (who sounds more and more
like a Christopher Walken impersonation every day), Pride & Glory
struggles to overcome the inevitability of it all.
Yes, there is a good movie under all that dark, gritty
cinematography... but there is also a long movie under
there as well.
And the last thing a film like this needs to be is long - especially
when there are no new surprises or tricks under it's sleeve to make up
for the slack.
... That is,
unless you consider an audience believing that Norton could beat
Farrell in a bar brawl a surprise?
Engrossing enough for fans of the genre and for those who are looking
for something a little darker than He's
Just Not That Into You on a Friday night at the movies - but for most, a visit to the video store or a viewing on Cable might be
all Pride &
Glory deserves.
3 out
of 5
Pride and
Glory
Australian release: 5th February,
2009
Official
Site: Pride and Glory
Cast: Colin Farrell, Edward
Norton, Jon Voight
Director: Gavin O'Connor
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