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| 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:  74 reviews
Sales Rank: 3875
Genre: Action
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 118 Minutes
ASIN: B0016OJEN8
Theatrical Release Date: October 12, 2007
Release Date: July 14, 2008
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 74
 Excellent Cast, Routine Plot... February 21, 2008
Benjamin J Burgraff
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
James Gray's 1980s paean of a NYC family of cops vs. the Russian mob, "We Own the Night" refreshingly doesn't portray policemen as crooked or amoral, but, despite the star power involved, never achieves greatness, either. Sadly, the plot is predictable, and the climax, contrived.
This is not to say the film hasn't merit; Joaquin Phoenix, as the 'black sheep' son who dabbles in 'the dark side' before becoming an 'avenging angel' cop, is superb, as is Eva Mendes, who, for once, is allowed to show more depth than her usual 'window dressing' roles. Robert Duvall demonstrates a restraint in his 'father' role that has been missing in most of his recent work, losing the Southern twang for the crisp diction reminiscent of his earlier films. Surprisingly, Mark Wahlberg, in a more 'straight arrow' variation of his character in "The Departed", has little to do, and is completely upstaged by the flashier Phoenix, as well as by his Russian counterparts, the kindly father figure with a secret life (Moni Moshonov), and his ruthless drug lord nephew (Alex Veadov).
The film starts promisingly, with a flashy vision of Manhattan club life of the late 80s, run by the Russians, who are taking control of drug trafficking, and hold the NYPD in contempt and disregard, juxtaposed against the simpler, traditional world of New York's Finest, celebrating achievement, duty, and service to others. Phoenix, as the 'adopted' son of the Russians, and the actual son of a cop, is at the nexus of what might have been great drama, as he straddles both worlds. Yet when the film's first major climax occurs, the opportunity is lost, as he makes a decision that channels the film along a predictable path that offers few surprises.
Still entertaining, but far less than it might have been, "We Own the Night" is a good film that could have been great...
 Opposite Sides March 30, 2008
prisrob (New EnglandUSA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
"Booed at the Cannes film festival (always a sign that a movie has good energy), James Gray's pulverizing crime drama is unafraid to put its passions right out where it's easy to mock them. We Own the Night is defiantly, refreshingly unhip." Peter Travers
A movie that does not have original material, but it works in spurts. The
dark underworld of Russian crime- this is the group du jour of crime nowadays. The New York City Police Department who in the 1980's according to Roger Ebert used the 'We Own the Night" slogan of the New York police, painted on the sides of their squad cars as a promise to take back the night from the drug trade. Two members of the NYP- Robert Duval and Mark Wahlberg as father and son want to bring that drug trade down. The other brother, Joaquin Phoenix, for whatever reason, has become the manager of a club that caters to the drug crowd. At opposite ends, oh yes. Until, until, something big happens and the son Bobby Green turns to the side of the law. Eva Menedes does an admirable job playing Bobby's love interest, and this emotional tangle brings this film some real credibility.
The action in this film and in particular the car chase on a wet rainy night with fog so thick you can barely see is a raw knuckle event. The raw and grainy fear is palpable, and I can envision the fear and heart racing excitement.
"But this is an atmospheric, intense film, well acted, and when it's working it has a real urgency. Scenes where a protagonist is close to being unmasked almost always work. The complexity of Bobby's motives grows intriguing, and the concern of his girl friend Armada is well-used. "We Own the Night" may not solve the question of ownership, but it does explore who lives in the night, and why." Roger Ebert
Recommended. prisrob 03-29-08
Broken Trail
The Big Hit
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Am I My Brother's Keeper? October 17, 2007
Chris Pandolfi (Los Angeles, CA)
6 out of 7 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.
 We own the talent February 6, 2008
Tristan
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
One of the saddest things in film is watching the utter waste of impressive and potential talent. We Own the Night is one such film.
The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Robert Duvall, and Eva Mendes and has the outline for a good story--two brothers on opposite sides of the law--despite it being somewhat unoriginal. Even with this much promise and generous runtime of two hours, this film manages to ruin all the possible good performances by under-developing the characters as well as cramming way too much into the plot.
Because of that very reason I will not go into the details of the plot. All that is really explainable is that as I said there are two brothers one a police officer (played by Mark Wahlberg) the other a night club manager (played by Joaquin Phoenix). Their father (played by Robert Duvall) is the police chief and he wants Joaquin to help him catch a major drug dealer. This sounds simple enough but there are more subplots that break of from there that don't leave enough time for each one so you never connect with any of the characters or their plights. Everything is so quick, easy, and comes together so simply that it reminds me almost of one of those B-grade TV movies that went straight to DVD.
It is so sad seeing the talent of two Oscar-nominated actors wasted. There is nothing wrong with both Wahlberg's and Joaquin's performances, but their characters are so by-the-book with no warmth or energy to them that it causes their performances to seem mediocre.
There is nothing striking about the film production everything is what we would see in many other gangster/drug lord films. There also seemed to be to many similar moments from others films including slow-motion shots.
By the end of the film I felt completely shut out from it, just hoping it would end soon. The only thing that made it even slightly bearable to tolerate for its' two hours was the fact that it had such a good cast who all tried their best with the material. It was as if they were on a sinking ship and even with desperate attempts to pump the water out and plug the hole the ship was still going to sink.
wow February 13, 2008
Donald A. Coppock
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Wow. What a truly crappy movie. Terrible script. Totally unbelievable. And while I appreciate Joaquin Phoenix his acting is so over the top as to appear almost cartoonishly ridiculous. This is truly the worst film I've seen this year, probably because given the cast I had such high expectations.
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