Cop drama with Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pe帽a in 'End of Watch': movie review
The cop drama 鈥淓nd of Watch鈥� is set in the mean streets of South Central Los Angeles and they have rarely looked meaner. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pe帽a play longtime LAPD partners whose roisterous friendship goes very deep. Both actors are marvelous 鈥� this may be the most nuanced and far-ranging performance Gyllenhaal has ever given 鈥� and writer-director David Ayer (who wrote 鈥�Training Day鈥�) is unapologetically frank about the dangers these men face.
I wish that the Mexican drug cartel subplot was not so overwrought and Oliver Stone-ish, and the decision to shoot much of the film 鈥淐ops鈥�-style is also problematic. (The whirlybird hand-held approach is no more 鈥渞ealistic,鈥� probably less so, than using a tripod.) But the film puts you right inside an everyday inferno and, to its credit, doesn鈥檛 turn down the heat.
Grade: B+ (Rated聽R for strong violence, some disturbing images, pervasive language including sexual references, and some drug use.)
