Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Leftbanker ****Spoilers***Spoilers*****Don't Bother Watching This Movie!!!First of all there was absolutely no reason for this to be a period piece so why bother? The listening device wasn't anything like they had in 1988 and I'm sure there were other things that didn't exist back then. Next thing is that this just wasn't a very good story. The main plot twist hinged on nothing. The Russians try to kill a cop and the very next day they talk to someone they barely know about it and then they ask him if he wants to go see their drug stash house. Really? And then he's made some sort of cop and then he has a gun? Is it me or is that just stupid? The longer you watch it the stupider it gets.This deserves one star because it wasted the potential of everyone involved. What terrible writing! Epically bad and contrived and there wasn't a decent action scene in the entire film.

TheFilmGuy1 This is a film that I wanted to like, but just didn't quite do it to me. It's a fairly basic plot that's redeemed by a few really good sequences. There's also some great performances which help it, but it doesn't live up to what it could have been.The story is about two brothers, one who's a cop and the other who runs a nightclub and is involved with some criminals. A series of events causes the one brother to choose between his lifestyle and his police family members. The big issue is that it doesn't really give us anything original. It hits a lot of the plot points you would expect a movie like this to have, which is disappointing. It also feels really slow, but not in a good way. It just seems like they could have showed us what they wanted to show but in a more time efficient way.I wanna talk about the three sequences I liked the most, because these scenes really impressed me and just made me feel that the rest of the film was lacking. The first sequence is the drug house scene. While what occurs during it is mostly cliché, there is some crazy action towards the end that impressed me. Then comes the car chase. It's filmed from within the car essentially looking from Joaquin Phoenix' characters point of view. It's pretty tense and has not music, which makes it feel more real. The only issue is that there's something not visually right with it. What might that be? It was apparently filmed during a sunny day, and they then digitally made it stormy looking and rainy, giving it a slightly unreal look which takes away from it. Regardless, it's a good scene. Finally, my favorite sequence is the whole end shootout. There some stuff involving a field of tall bushes which makes for some intense moments, and it really looks good. Sadly, the rest of the film looks and feels pretty uninspired, aside from these three sequences.This is a film that is in need of some more creativity. Only those few sequences I mentioned feel like the director had some kind of creative ideas, but the rest is filmed so basic that it takes away greatly. Some people might be able to look past it's flaws, but I personally wanted more from it.

sammy-balamy Great performances and direction. The characters are three dimensional, not overstated and sympathetic. Even though it's a two hour film it was good enough to have been longer without dragging. All of the characters are interesting enough to merit more time for development. I'll be looking for a director's cut or an extended version. Forget the formulaic, plodding, and disjointed accusations. This is simply a good story with credible characters who have realistic and multi-layered relationships with one another. Formulaic films are based on a popular format without any depth or insight; this movie has both. Because sibling rivalries and cop dramas are popular doesn't mean they should be ignored as a subject.Plodding movies have scenes failing in dialogue and performance which slow the plot down. I didn't find one scene to fault in this way, both dialogue and performance are top notch. Disjointed means that the plot doesn't flow in a coherent manner making the movie looked spliced together. The plot's progression and coherence had me watching intently for the whole movie and trying to think ahead for the characters, to find it disjointed one would need a pretty short attention span. A great find and a nice change from the many formulaic cop movies around.

Uriah43 It's good to see a movie on the subject of drugs, organized crime and the police that is both hard-hitting and realistic but without the non-stop action and improbable stunts that are so prevalent in today's film industry. For that reason I really enjoyed this movie. Along with that, even though I have never been a big fan of either Joaquin Phoenix or Eva Mendes, I have to admit that I thought both of them gave truly outstanding performances in this film. "Bobby Green" (Joaquin Phoenix) is the manager of a very successful nightclub in New York. "Amanda Juarez" (Eva Mendes) is his girlfriend. Both of them are having the time of their lives and are completely oblivious to the war on drugs going on all around them. "Joseph Grusinsky" (Mark Wahlberg) is the brother of Bobby Green and has just been promoted to captain in the New York Police Department. His primary duty is to crack down on drugs and his main target is a key member of the Russian mafia, "Vadim Nezhinski" (played by Alex Veadov), who has lately begun to frequent Bobby's nightclub. Joseph decides to lead a raid on the nightclub which leads to serious problems for all concerned. Having said that, the writer/director (James Gray) goes on to weave a gripping story with just enough action and drama to keep the audience intrigued but without going overboard on one or the other. Now, those who insist on cheap stunts and lots of CGI probably won't like this film. But for those who appreciate good acting, good writing, and a good plot then this is a movie that is definitely worth your time.