We Own the Night revives the American cop genre, with the title coming from the 1988 NYPD detective logo. Despite a stunning performance by Joaquin Phoenix, and near perfect casting by writer/director James Grey, We Own the Night ends up a victim of straightforward storytelling and one-dimensional characters.
Robert ‘Bobby’ Green (Joaquin Phoenix) is the owner of a nightclub who finds himself caught up in police business when his brother, Capt. Joseph Grusinsky (Mark Wahlberg) gets shot as retaliation from the Russian mob. The movie follows a simple rule, and that is blood is thickest, and despite devotion to his girlfriend, Amanda Juarez (Eva Mendes) and being dissuaded by his father, Deputy Chief Albert ‘Bert’ Grusinsky (Robert Duvall), he agrees to become a mole so they can stake out the Russian mob.
Casting is almost perfection, except for Eva Mendes, who unfortunately has a forced role in this film. In an awkward scene, the camera cuts to her in tears as if to show that she can cry, but the problem is the scene’s lens are trained on Phoenix who is far more emotionally distraught. The forced cut screams wannabe stardom.
In fact, We Own the Night’s success can all be attributed to Joaquin Phoenix, who shows he can act the tortured torn-up hero who trades his entire life away for loyalty to his family. Despite the family conflict between him and his brother, the one-sided nature of his character is simplistic. While Robert Green starts off on the wrong side of the law, once his family gets harmed, he never turns back from his destiny to become a cop. Mark Wahlberg is as always the perfect rendition of confused bitter cop (as he was in The Departed). Unfortunately, they’ve toned down the potty-mouth and attitude that he often struts around with, and has a lesser role in the movie, due to skewed storytelling that focuses on Robert Green.
James Grey’s creative vision was clearly to romanticize the NYPD of the 80s. His choice in picking out Duvall just shows his desire to pick out a perfect media-portrayal of an NYPD deputy chief. The NYPD fight crime with the same brutality as the Russian mob does, and face antagonism from the very people whom they serve and protect. The pale-contrast and the dead-silent action shot, give We Own the Night a gritty almost-noir feel that film has not explored for some time yet. There are no traces of Hollywood action, heroes get shot, maimed, and trip over and fall like any other. If only Grey could somehow trade away his idealistic picture of the police force for a second, We Own the Night could have been a better film.
If someone had challenged Grey to make a stronger, more conflicted film then the attention he spent to create the atmosphere might have paid off. But for all the setup that Grey has put in to hint at a possible traitor, he gives the story away far too readily at the end. We Own the Night has the trimmings of a stronger film and certainly starts off properly, but ultimately lacks a strong story to keep things going. It’s hauntingly beautiful with its bleak and cold portrayal of 80s New York, but good cops that stay good, and bad mobsters that stay bad, put heavy limitations on any hopes of suspense and intrigue.
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