Title: End of Watch
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Anna Kendrick
Writer: David Ayer
Director: David Ayer
Release: 23rd November
Budget: $7,000,000
It’s been well over a year since Jake Gyllenhaal graced our screens with his presence as a disembodied soldier in Source Code. This time around he plays LAPD cop Brian Taylor and is joined by Michael Peña (Battle Los Angeles) in the role of his partner and best friend, Mike Zavala. We watch as they respond to a wide span of police calls ranging from drunken attacks on postmen to house fires and kidnapping. Meanwhile, Mike’s wife is having a baby and Brian finally thinks he’s found a girl he can connect with on an intellectual level. The two officers find themselves in the middle of a war between two enemy drug cartels after responding to a routine house call and are marked for death by a group of gangsters as a result.
Gyllenhaal and Peña have remarkable chemistry the whole way through End of Watch. Their onscreen friendship is endearing to watch and the way they bounce off each other’s energy is something that has been missing from a lot of movies this year. Both actors can go from cracking jokes to action mode with the flick of a siren and flashing of lights. You can’t help but love watching them. The same cannot be said however, for Brian’s relationship with Janet who is played by Anna Kendrick (most recently seen in What to Expect When You’re Expecting). We’re not sure if it was just because the blossoming love story wasn’t given enough screen time or whether the spark just wasn’t there between the actors but it just didn’t seem to live up to it’s potential considering who was playing the parts.
As far as the script goes, it had some Dredd level cheesiness at the beginning with Gyllenhaal’s voiceover claiming “I am the police” as we watch a car chase from the view of the in-car police camera. However, we will forgive that considering the amount of times we found ourselves laughing out loud at some of the one-liners and stories heard in the police car and scattered throughout the rest of the movie. Mike’s wife Gabby (Natalie Martinez) also has an awesomely hilarious scene that almost had us in tears!
End of Watch is not without it’s flaws though. A good portion of the filming is done on cameras clipped to Brian and Mike’s uniforms and other parts are caught on a handheld camera. This Blair Witch/ Cloverfield type view means a great deal of the close contact fighting and action sequences are just a blur of bodies or colours and we had to rely on Brian’s narration to properly grasp what was going on. There were a few minor characters that seemed to be cast in a pretty stereotypical light, particularly some of the Mexican gang members.
A special mention has to be given to the original score provided by David Sardy who also contributed music to Zombieland and Wanted. Also worth mentioning is Exec Music Producer, Philip Moross (Looper, Let Me In) who included some gems on the soundtrack from artists like Pucifer, Public Enemy and Josh Homme to name but a few. It’s always a good sign when you can’t wait to look up a soundtrack when you’re leaving the cinema!
Overall, End of Watch makes for some good watching. Maybe given an extra ten minutes the relationship between Brian and Janet could have possibly been developed if we’d seen some of the trips we hear about in the police car. There are definitely some scenes filled with heart in mouth, edge of the seat suspense, especially in the third act. It doesn’t hold back on the grusome insight into the world of gang warfare either. If you’re a fan of Gyllenhaal, or action, or hell even solid gold, bedazzled guns you should definitely give End of Watch your full attention.
8/10
Editor-in-Chief, part-time super villain and hoarder of cats. If you can’t find me writing, I’m probably in the kitchen!
