Movie Review - Pride and Glory - Colin Farrell and Edward Norton

Whats the new Collin Farrell movie called? That would be Pride and Glory.

I saw this movie last night after getting free tickets to an advanced screening from XL106.7. Thanks guys, big ups. I was shocked to get there and see a theatre that was at most 40% full.

First, a little about Pride and Glory. Directed and co-written by Gavin O'Connor (Tumbleweeds) and screenwriter Joe Carnahan (Smokin' Aces), Pride And Glory focuses on an NYPD investigation in the aftermath of a Washington Heights drug bust gone bad, in which four cops on the stakeout are killed during the ensuing shootout. An enraged Chief Of Detectives Tierney (Jon Voight) pulls his cop son Ray (Edward Norton) from Missing Persons to head the probe. A far from enthused Ray is reluctant to get involved, since the four dead cops were part of a team that was led by traumatized brother Francis (Noah Emmerich) and hotheaded brother-in-law Jimmy (Colin Farrell). Though the son of an NYPD cop himself, O'Connor presents a grim portrait of the police as, in their own words in the film, 'guns for hire who sell our badges to the highest bidder, and who lead our own as sheep to slaughter

My Take: So Pride and Glory follows the pretty sterotypical plot of a crooked cop movie. Add in bleak cinematography, deep racial tensions, a mom dying of cancer, and the decision to protect yourself or your family and you get a pretty melencholy film. All that was missing was killing a few kittens. I found one scene particulary deplorable. Let's just say it involved a white cop, an infant Dominican child and a very hot iron. Harsh. This movie is more of a pyschological expose (i.e. a mind fu$k) than action. However, it is particularly brutal with plenty of violence and dehuminization of minority drug dealers. I came out of this movie thinking....which I believe is what O'Connor was going for. The acting was superb. Edward Norton really shined and Colin Farrell was pretty solid. I would give it a 3 out of 5. In many ways a rehash of the good cops gone bad and abuse of power movie, just with some new twists.

So there is my first movie review, and the first movie I have seen in the theatre since The Davinci Code (2006).