Rating of
1.5/4
"We Own The Night" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 03/19/12
Joaquin Phoenix plays a nightclub owner approached by his brother who is a policeman in the NYPD to help him investigate a drug dealer. We Own The Night has the heavyweight names and artsy photography to trick the casual browser into thinking that it is an intelligent and insightful piece of film making. Unfortunately, the cocktail of nasty Russian gangsters, dysfunctional cop family stereotypes and bedside vigils is straight out of a Steven Seagal movie. In fact Phoenix's shambling, mumbling performance even reminded me of the kung fu fatso, and by the end when the NYPD hands over a badge and a shotgun to a guy who serves drinks for a living it actually seemed even less credible. On the other hand, at least Seagal films can be so bad they're amusing, whereas this is just knuckle-draggingly DULL. Add fatuous dialogue and a mercilessly predictable plot and you have something with pretention to being high drama but is in fact a total yawn fest.
