Broken City (2013)
A Movie Review by Dave Randal
Genre: Crime | Drama | ThrillerCast: Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jeffrey WrightDirector: Allen HughesWriters: Brian TuckerStudio: Regency Enterprises, Emmett/Furia FilmsDistributed by: 20th Century FoxRelease Date: January 18, 2013Plot: In a city rife with injustice, ex-cop Billy Taggart seeks redemption and revenge after being used by Mayor Nicholas Hostetler.
January isn't exactly the best month for quality movie releases. In fact January has kind of become a joke when it comes to new releases. It is pretty much the time of the year where Hollywood just decides to unload a lot of mediocre crap. I can't say that Broken City is mediocre crap, but it sure isn't a great movie either.
The movie is about a disgraced ex-cop turned private investigator named Billy Taggart played by Mark Wahlberg. He is struggling to make ends meet as a private investigator, but luckily for him the mayor of the city, Nicholas Hostetler played by Russell Crowe, decides to hire him to find out if his wife is cheating on him. Taggart takes the job, but soon finds out that there is much more going on with the mayor than he realized.
The movie is really slow although I stayed interested in it because I'm interested in stories about douchebag politicians who are power hungry corrupt criminals. The average person who isn't interested in politics or conspiracy plots may not want to even try and watch this movie. It is pretty long and it tries to be more serious than it actually is. It could have easily been only an hour and thirty minutes, but instead they add a lot of other stuff that doesn't need to be in it and it ends up making the story seem really dry.
I'm a fan of Mark Wahlberg and thought he was pretty good in the movie. I would never say that he is a great actor, but he certainly gets the job done. I would much rather see him in a comedy or an action movie, but he did better in this movie than I expected. In roles like this I think Wahlberg shows that he has a bit more range as an actor than most people think. I bought into Wahlberg's character of being a disgraced ex-cop and thought he did about as good as anyone could have with what was a pretty lackluster and dry script.
Russell Crowe plays his character of the mayor pretty well and even does a decent Brooklyn accent. I know that Crowe gets a lot of crap from people, but I think he has consistently been a pretty good actor over the years. It is pretty obvious from the beginning of the movie that Crowe's character is going to turn out to be corrupt, but I don't think that ruins anything. Whether you like him or not I don't think anyone can say that Crowe is a bad actor. In this movie he plays a pretty good asshole although to be fair that probably isn't too big of a stretch for him considering all the stories we have heard about him and his bad temper.
I enjoyed the movie for what it was, but we have certainly seen the same tricks played in other movies with similar plots. There were a few small plot holes throughout the movie that kind of annoyed me although they didn't exactly ruin the entire movie for me. It would have been nice if they had beefed up the script a bit and added a bit more to it, but it is what it is and I can accept that. I thought it was a decent movie with an okay plot, but it defiantly comes off as kind of mediocre which is very common for a January movie.
Dave Randal's Rating-
A-Okay
Learn the Randal Rating System
Dave Randal's Star Rating- ★★★(3) out of ★★★★★(5)
The movie is about a disgraced ex-cop turned private investigator named Billy Taggart played by Mark Wahlberg. He is struggling to make ends meet as a private investigator, but luckily for him the mayor of the city, Nicholas Hostetler played by Russell Crowe, decides to hire him to find out if his wife is cheating on him. Taggart takes the job, but soon finds out that there is much more going on with the mayor than he realized.
The movie is really slow although I stayed interested in it because I'm interested in stories about douchebag politicians who are power hungry corrupt criminals. The average person who isn't interested in politics or conspiracy plots may not want to even try and watch this movie. It is pretty long and it tries to be more serious than it actually is. It could have easily been only an hour and thirty minutes, but instead they add a lot of other stuff that doesn't need to be in it and it ends up making the story seem really dry.
I'm a fan of Mark Wahlberg and thought he was pretty good in the movie. I would never say that he is a great actor, but he certainly gets the job done. I would much rather see him in a comedy or an action movie, but he did better in this movie than I expected. In roles like this I think Wahlberg shows that he has a bit more range as an actor than most people think. I bought into Wahlberg's character of being a disgraced ex-cop and thought he did about as good as anyone could have with what was a pretty lackluster and dry script.
Russell Crowe plays his character of the mayor pretty well and even does a decent Brooklyn accent. I know that Crowe gets a lot of crap from people, but I think he has consistently been a pretty good actor over the years. It is pretty obvious from the beginning of the movie that Crowe's character is going to turn out to be corrupt, but I don't think that ruins anything. Whether you like him or not I don't think anyone can say that Crowe is a bad actor. In this movie he plays a pretty good asshole although to be fair that probably isn't too big of a stretch for him considering all the stories we have heard about him and his bad temper.
I enjoyed the movie for what it was, but we have certainly seen the same tricks played in other movies with similar plots. There were a few small plot holes throughout the movie that kind of annoyed me although they didn't exactly ruin the entire movie for me. It would have been nice if they had beefed up the script a bit and added a bit more to it, but it is what it is and I can accept that. I thought it was a decent movie with an okay plot, but it defiantly comes off as kind of mediocre which is very common for a January movie.
Dave Randal's Rating-
A-OkayLearn the Randal Rating System
Dave Randal's Star Rating- ★★★(3) out of ★★★★★(5)
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