This irritatingly melodramatic but still watchable thriller from James Gray follows the contrasting footsteps of two brothers, one good, one bad.
The good guy (Mark Wahlberg) has followed the footsteps of his gruff father (Robert Duvall) into the New York City police force. The other (Joaquin Phoenix) manages a Brooklyn night club where he parties a lot and gets mixed up with nasty Ruskie drug dealers.
Raiding the dive, the good brother gets shot in the face and a family crisis ensues.
This is the best part of the film, since Gray, who made Little Odessa, gets more realism out of family relationships than he does out of the thriller element, which has the Russian mobsters failing to check the bad brother's connections with the police before imparting their secrets to him. They were surely more sensible than that, even in 1988.
There are other illogical plot turns, too. But Duvall is as impressive as ever and Eva Mendes is a sexy if underwritten presence throughout as the bad boy's girl.
We Own The Night
Cert: 15
