The last time I saw both Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix in a movie together, it was in 2000, in The Yards. It just so happens that the director of We Own the Night, James Gray, also directed that film. Having not worked for 7 years should have been a tell-tale sign of things to come. However, I was hopeful that this time around, with We Own the Night, Gray would be able to hit pay dirt. Sadly, We Own the Night comes up broke.
Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) is a successful manager at a Russian night club, El Caribe, in Brooklyn. Things are looking very good for Bobby as he has a beautiful girlfriend in Amada Juarez (Eva Mendes) and after speaking with his boss, Marat Buzhayev (Moni Moshonov), possible expansion to a new night club in Manhattan is on the horizon. All is right in the world for Bobby.
However, all is not so great with his family. When Bobby shows up to the honoring of his brother becoming a police captain, the tension could be cut with a knife. Bobby has forlorn the family name and taken his mothers to hide the fact that his brother Joe Grusinsky (Mark Wahlberg) and father, Chief Bert Grusinsky (Robert Duvall), are police officers. Given the line of work and the dealings that take place at his night club, if word were to get out that he was part of a cop family, Bobby wouldn?t stick around for too long.
When informed by his brother that the NYPD are about to crack down on a known drug dealer doing his business within the club he manages, the nephew of the Buzhayev, Vadim Nezhinski (Alex Veadov), Bobby is asked to keep on eye on things for them. Bobby?s father tries as best as he can to warn him that he needs to do the right thing or he could end up on the wrong side of things.
When Bobby?s family becomes the target of Nezhinski, he needs to decide what is more important. It is his night club partying and drug life or his family?s lives?
Video
As to be expected, given for such a new release, the 1.85:1 transfer on We Own the Night is very clean. I didn?t see one spec of dirt on this transfer. For a movie shot mostly at night I was surprised that I didn?t notice any grain during those scenes. The blacks were actually very good. Sadly, during some of the indoor, brighter scenes, the grain is very apparent. I didn?t notice any edge enhancement or any form of ghosting. However, in a few scenes, I did notice some softness causing me to squint a little bit. I wouldn?t call this reference quality, but overall, a very decent transfer.
Audio
Aside from a few scenes where the surrounds are used, such as within the night club playing 80s music and some action scenes, the films audio is mostly center channel. True HD 5.1 sound is the only option for audio. No PCM on this disc. Also four subtitle tracks are available for your reading pleasure. They include English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Hindi.
Special Features
All of the extras are in High Definition. Some spoilers may revealed. Read with caution.
- Tension: Creating We Own The Night (15 minutes) - This is the standard ?Making Of?? that you?ll find for just about every movie.
- Police Action: Filming Cops, Cars and Chaos (10 Minutes) – Just as the title suggests, this extra goes over the car chase within the movie as well as some of the other stunts within the film. Director James Gray, the stunt coordinator and others explain the dangers of the car chases as well as accident that can and do happen when filming scenes like that.
- A Moment in Crime: Creating late ?80s Brooklyn (9 minutes) - This is a feature discussing the type of clothing and music used to create the 80s feel. Also discussed were the changes that needed to be done on the set to make it feel very 80s-like.
- Commentary with Writer/Director James Gray
Final Thoughts
We Own the Night could have been so much better than it was. The interaction between the Bobby, Joe and Bert seem very fake and forced. I did not feel any type of ?family? chemistry between them. When someone got hurt, I felt no sympathy and that was the same for the characters themselves. Almost no one seemed to show any type of genuine care. I understand the ?tough guy? approach when dealing with cops and cop movies, but here, it just felt like the main actors (Wahlberg, Duvall & Phoenix) were just sleepwalking through the movie.
Unless you are a die hard fan of either Wahlberg?s or Phoenix? and need to see everything they are in, then go for it. However, I would recommend skipping this as it was hard enough watching it once, any type of re-watch ability is next to impossible.
