REVIEW
End of Watch
Where: Empire Capitol 6, Empire University 4, SilverCity
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena
Directed and written by: David Ayer
Parental advisory: R, violence, coarse language
Rating: 3 1/2 (out of five)
The life of a policeman - at least a policeman in South Central Los Angeles, and at least as seen in End of Watch - is a series of dark images of the worst of human behaviour. The cops get there to find the woman whose face is being beaten to a pulp, or the man who sits on the sidewalk with a paring knife stuck in his eye, or two babies who have been tied and gagged with duct tape and put into a closet. They don't see how it happened, and they don't see what happens later: they're just around for an unhappy snapshot of what people do to each other.
It makes a man bitter, or, in some cases, ironic. "We were looking for all the food groups: guns, money and drugs," says L.A. police officer Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal). "The ghetto will provide," replies his partner, Mike Zavala (Michael Pena.)
End of Watch is a love story of sorts, between Brian and Mike, whose affectionately aggressive banter and chop-busting gives the film an air of easy (if obscene) camaraderie, and also between filmmaker David Ayer and his dark, explosive, and likely mythic version of life in the 'hood.
Ayer, who previously made the bad-cop drama Training Day, flips the coin this time to present the South Central police as everyday heroes.
End of Watch is a scary, and sometimes funny, ride down the mean streets of L.A.
It may be an exaggeration, but try to stop watching.
Postmedia News
