We Own the Night | 
| Director: James Gray
Actors: Joaquin Phoenix, Eva Mendes, Mark Wahlberg, Robert Duvall, Alex Veadov
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
This item is no longer available
Rating:  67 reviews
Sales Rank: 1141
Genre: Action
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Video Download
Running Time: 118 Minutes
ASIN: B0016OJEN8
Theatrical Release Date: October 12, 2007
Release Date: July 14, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
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| Synopsis:
What if your own family stood in the way of everything you worked for? Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) has forsaken his name to escape his family and their tradition in law enforcement to pursue his ambitions as a Brooklyn nightclub owner. As he turns a blind eye to the drug dealers around him, he comes face to face with the family he abandoned when his brother (Mark Wahlberg) and father (Robert Duvall) crack down on the club. Now Bobby must choose a side. Is he going to turn informant or will he help run the biggest crime ring in New York history? |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 62 more reviews...
 A Plot Threadbare from Overuse February 14, 2008
Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States)
198 out of 206 found this review helpful
WE OWN THE NIGHT is the quote from the lower portion of the badge on the uniforms of NYPD police family Deputy Chief Bert Grusinsky (Robert Duvall) and one of his two sons Capt. Joe Grusinsky (Mark Wahlberg): the other son Bobby (Joaquin Phoenix) did not follow the family tradition of police work but instead is involved in nightclubs - and yes there is a schism of resentment. Bobby has distanced himself further from his family by changing his last name to 'Green', living with a Puerto Rican girl Amada (Eva Mendes), and bonding to a wealthy Russian family who owns the nightclub where Bobby works - a front for a drug dealing business. Writer/Director James Gray ('The Yards' and 'Little Odessa') has a feel for this underbelly of New York City and captures the 1988 mood of life in the city and beneath the city with style. The problem with the story is that it has been done so many times that it is simply stale yesterday's lunch. Two brothers at opposite end of the family spectrum require a major tragedy to bring them together, and to offer any more information to this fairly thin plot would be a disservice to those who plan to see the film.
The cast is strong, partly because each of them has played similar roles countless times and have the ideas down pat. It should be noted that two of the producers of the film are Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix, probably a reason the film was made... There are some exciting moments and enough surprises and tense times to keep the adrenaline rolling, the smaller roles are very well cast, and one of the shining attributes of the film is the gorgeous Russian liturgy inspired musical score by Wojciech Kilar. It is not a bad film; it is just too much in the same mold as countless other New York police dramas. Grady Harp, February 08
 Both sides think they own the night July 19, 2008
H. Schneider (Puxi, Moinland)
34 out of 40 found this review helpful
The film is covering well known territory, and it doesn't bring totally new aspects into it. Just a normal "New York cops versus gangsters" flick, imagine a cross of the Departed and Eastern Promises.
We all know that in the 90s, Mr.Giuliani singlehandedly and famously cleaned up NYC (unless it really happened differently, eg via the mechanisms mentioned in Freakonomics). Before his magic touch saved the city, it appears that NY cops were the laughing stock of the streets. Gangsters were in control, it seems.
What we have here, set in 88, is a confrontation between a Russian drug ring and the cops, among whom the father and son team Duvall/Wahlberg is prominent. They have a prodigal son/brother (Phoenix), who happens to work as a night club manager for the Russians and has a Latina girl friend (Mendes). You see right away where this is leading, but then, no, you don't quite. The script succeeds in avoiding overdone predictability. With hindsight, no big surprise happens, but you never quite know how it will unfold.
In other words, if you like the genre, this is a first class product.
Some have given low grades here for the fact that it is not original. True, it isn't very. But I would rather watch a solid movie in a proven and interesting genre than an original bore in a new one.
Not so Hot February 14, 2008
Ron (Jersey)
14 out of 19 found this review helpful
With a cast like Joaquin Phoenix, Eva Mendes, Mark Wahlberg, and Robert Duvall I was really expecting more from this picture. The storyline of two brothers on opposite sides of the law has been done so much better before. Joaquin puts in a good performance. Wahlberg plays the same kind of pissed off character he always does. Eva does the best with what she had. Her role consists of rolling around on a bed most of the movie and looking sexy. Duvall doesn't get that much screen time, but he is solid. The movie is very uneven and has some pretty big gaps in logic. It is entertaining to a point, but don't expect a really terrific movie.
interesting plot and fine Joaquin Phoenix performance November 4, 2007
Roland E. Zwick (Valencia, Ca USA)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
***1/2
Taking its title from the motto engraved on all NYPD officers' badges, "We Own the Night" is essentially the Prodigal Son story transplanted to the mean, crime-ridden streets of New York City. Robert Duvall is Burt Grusinsky, a high ranking police chief with two sons, one "good" and the other "bad." Joseph has eagerly followed in his father's footsteps by becoming a captain on the force, while Bobby wants nothing whatsoever to do with the police and, in fact, spends much of his time running around with the unsavory drug dealers who frequent the lucrative nightclub he successfully manages. It isn't until one of those associates has Joseph shot after a narcotics raid on the club that Bobby learns where his true loyalties lie. He agrees to go undercover for the force to unmask the identity of the shooter and bring down the Russian drug cartel that set Joseph up.
At times, while watching the movie, I kept thinking that writer/director James Gray had simply grafted the Michael Corleone story onto "The Departed." Still, despite its derivative nature, "We Own the Night" is a tightly scripted, occasionally ingenious police procedural featuring a riveting, knockout performance by Joaquin Phoenix in the role of Bobby. He gets solid support from Duval, Mark Wahlberg as Joseph, and Eva Mendes as the true love who doesn't feel all that comfortable with Bobby's sudden fascination with helping out the police.
Gray provides a number of highly suspenseful moments, as well as a terrifically mounted car chase through the rain-soaked streets of the city. The sound is also unusually effective, creating an often surrealistic sense of dislocation at crucial dramatic moments (though the Blondie-inspired soundtrack is slightly anachronistic for 1988, the year in which the story is set).
Bobby's conversion from lawbreaker to law enforcer is not always entirely convincing and we are often forced to accept quite a bit on faith just to keep the story rolling. In the long run, though, the polish and professionalism displayed on both sides of the camera ultimately lift the movie above its various imperfections.
 Am I My Brother's Keeper? October 17, 2007
Chris Pandolfi (Los Angeles, CA)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
"We Own the Night" may not be the most original cop movie ever made, but it certainly is compelling. Taking place between late 1988 and mid 1989, it tells a classically redemptive story, putting all its effort into the main character and his transition from bad to good. But I'm making this sound far too simple: Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) is really not a bad guy at all. Misguided, certainly--he's established as the manager of a New York City nightclub, and as such, he's a freewheeling partier. But more importantly, he's detached himself from his immediate family, going so far as to use his mother's last name for business purposes. Instead, he chooses to connect with the club's Russian owner, Marat Buzhayev (Moni Moshonov). Understandably, this puts Green at odds with his father, Burt Grusinsky (Robert Duvall), and his brother, Joseph (Mark Wahlberg), both of whom are cops.
I think you can see the conflict here, but wait until the story really gets going. It begins when Buzhayev's nephew, Vadim (Alex Veadov), is suspected of drug trafficking; under Joseph's supervision, the police raid the club and arrest Vadim. This sets into motion a series of events that endanger the Grusinsky family, beginning with Joseph's attempted murder. While Joseph recovers in the hospital, Bobby feels the first pangs of remorse; no, he didn't get along with his family, but he never wanted to see any of them get hurt. For the first time in his life, he actually feels responsible for someone else's misfortune. He channels his pain into a plan of attack, resolving to catch Vadim and have him brought to justice. This can be seen in one of two ways: either Bobby is trying to relieve his own guilt, or he's actually hoping to redeem himself by being selfless. Quite possibly, it's a little bit of both.
But whatever his reasons, it quickly becomes clear that catching Vadim will not be so easy. Through a sting-gone-wrong, he learns of Bobby's involvement with the NYPD, meaning that Bobby is now forced to go into hiding. So is his girlfriend, Amada (Eva Mendes), the only person Bobby trusts with his family secrets. She clearly loves him, but she also finds it difficult to move from motel to motel and to avoid any contact with her mother. They're both trapped, but Amada has it worse simply because she's a victim of circumstance. Bobby, on the other hand, got himself into this situation, first when he refused to help the police keep tabs on Vadim, second when willingly chose to help the police. I don't know whether or not we're supposed to feel sorry for Bobby--that depends on what the viewer believes. But I do know that, as reckless as he was, he's at least trying to make a difference. Surely something can be said for that.
But maybe it isn't enough. "We Own the Night" presents a number of complicated, believable issues that are properly introduced but not entirely developed. The tension between the Grusinskys is understandable, given Bobby's rebellious behavior. But in any troubled relationship, behavior is only part of the problem. As fascinating as these characters were, I just know that they could have been much more realistic if given the chance--with just a little more development, they could have been deeper, more meaningful, more complex. I recognized Bobby's drive to right his wrongs, and while that aspect of the story is fairly unoriginal, I still appreciated it. But something more was needed, something solid enough to be realistic yet flexible enough to be entertaining. This film remains stuck in an area between the two, an area bogged down by routine material.
But at the very least, it does the best it can with that material, and ultimately accomplishes what it set out to accomplish. I did believe in these characters, and I definitely found their story interesting. More significantly, I longed for some kind of resolution, which I'm sure is what the filmmakers were hoping for. Beneath the violence, the hurtful words, and the hard feelings, there is an air of hope to this story. We want everything to turn out okay, simply because Bobby and Joseph are family, and family should always stick together. Or at least, they should in this kind of film.
As flawed as this movie is, it's still worth recommending. "We Own the Night" is a police drama about taking responsibility, whether it's for your own actions or for someone else's well being. I'm not naive enough to think that this message is new. Obviously, it isn't. But I am easy-going enough to believe that it still works. And while the characters aren't as developed as they should be, there's still enough to keep them from being flat, shallow, and uninteresting. I could sense how badly this film wanted to connect with its audience; the plot was in a perpetual state of building, working itself up to an ending that would be both expected and appropriate. Generally speaking, it succeeded--the final lines of dialogue express what should have been expressed from the very start, which is not only satisfying, but necessary, as well.
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