Movielogr

Rating: 7 stars

Tags

moviepass new york city corruption murder real estate private investigator regal colony square stadium 12

All movies seen on 01/27/2013

View on: IMDb | TMDb

Broken City (2013)

Directed by Allen Hughes

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Most recently watched by JohnPeel, Javitron, danielt

Overview

In a broken city rife with injustice, ex-cop Billy Taggart seeks redemption and revenge after being double-crossed and then framed by its most powerful figure, the mayor. Billy’s relentless pursuit of justice, matched only by his streetwise toughness, makes him an unstoppable force - and the mayor’s worst nightmare.

Rated R | Length 109 minutes

Actors

Mark Wahlberg | Russell Crowe | Catherine Zeta-Jones | Jeffrey Wright | Barry Pepper | Alona Tal | Natalie Martinez | Michael Beach | Kyle Chandler | James Ransone | Griffin Dunne | Britney Theriot | Odessa Sykes | Luis Tolentino | Tony Bentley | Andrea Frankle | William Ragsdale | Chance Kelly | Justin Chambers | Ric Reitz | Lydia Hull | Annika Pergament | Jason Mitchell | Chelsea Bruland | John W. Houghtaling | Leslie Hippensteel | Benjamin Kanes | Greg Sproles | Reynaldo Piniella | Veronica Berry | Judd Lormand | Lori Campbell | Benton Greene | Joseph Meissner | Robert Larriviere | Gregory Jbara

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

Used MoviePass to do a 4 pm show before heading to a friend’s house for dinner. Overall I liked the film. I kind of felt that Walberg was a weak link on the acting front though. He’s not terrible but seemed to like sincerity in the part, which makes it more difficult to empathize with his character.

On the other hand, Alona Tal does a great job in the pivotal role of Walberg’s assistant/secretary (and one suspects, eventual love interest). She plays the character with just the right blend of sass, sweetness and humor that really helps to ground Walberg’s character and humanize him.

I’ve really grown to enjoy Crowe in these major supporting roles he’s been doing (Body of Lies is another great example) more than his leading actor work. In both Broken City and Body of Lies, he plays morally and/or ethically compromised individuals and he does so in a way that’s believable. While his mayor character in Broken City is perhaps a little less nuanced, he still plays the character with a deft hand and an intuitive understanding of who his character is.

The same can be said for Jeffery Wright’s police chief. A very nuanced performance.

I like the shades of grey the characters are defined with; much closer to reality than most political corruption thrillers, which have a tendency to veer heavily into the black and white of a knight in shining armor fighting against the corruption of city hall. In the real world, good doesn’t always triumph over evil and good isn’t even always good, just not as evil as the evil it’s fighting against.

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