Starring: Colin Farrell, Edward Norton, Jon Voight, Noah Emmerich, Jennifer Ehle, John Ortiz, Frank Grillo, Lake Bell

Directed by: Gavin O'Connor

New Line Cinema

The Official Site of Pride and Glory

Discuss Pride and Glory on the boards!

Pride and Glory does a miserable job of getting to the point but in describing the movie I won’t make you guys jump through the same hoops. It’s long. Uncomfortably long in how it chooses to unravel, but at the same time there are flashes of brilliance that some might say make this big screen tale of dirty cops and family feuds worth the wait. I wouldn’t say that, but I did enjoy the flashes. Flashes of great moments and great performances like the one that will remind you Jon Voight was a phenomenal force in acting once upon a time (he nails the wistful drunk at Christmas dinner here). Those moments of brilliance are hidden though, in a movie filled with little bits of build up that lull you to sleep before something interesting forces you to attention. Yes… Pride and Glory is the movie equivalent of sleep apnea and, as much as I enjoyed the performances and story line (when they worked), it's not worth the irregular sleep patterns.

Edward Norton plays Ray, a cop pulled back into duty when his former partner is killed on the job. He used to be the top cop in the department but was sidelined by a mysterious incident that left him weak-willed and with a badass face scar. You'll have to wait for the movie to present the pieces of that story and slowly put them together for you but it's the typical tortured cop story. His estranged wife can't stand to be near him, he suffers in the shadow of unfulfilled potential… he lives on a houseboat for Christ's sake. He might as well start the day by cleaning is gun alone in the dark.

Pride and Glory becomes a race between Ray and the crooked cops of Precinct 31 (Lead by Ray's brother-in-law Jimmy, played by Colin Farrell) to find the man responsible for their friend's death. If Ray finds him first - justice will be served. If Jimmy finds him first – well… imagine the worst. The film gives you a few reasons to picture the worst as we see some pretty dark sides to Jimmy in his quest for revenge. One of the more memorable scenes of the movie includes an interrogation involving an iron and a baby. I thought the movie jumped a few levels too quickly in that scene but it’s certainly one of things audiences will be buzzing about on their way to the parking lot.

Themes of “right vs. wrong� and “protecting your fellow cops over fulfilling justice� are addressed throughout. It's interesting and well structured but sort of clumsily presented. There are a number of layers to the decision-making that multiple characters have to go through and the set-up of their lives is less compelling than the questions they’re confronted with in the end.

Pride and Glory is a film filled with brilliant pieces, fantastic storytelling, incredible displays of one-on-one acting (everyone has their time to shine), but even with an ending heavily stacked with more good than bad (Voight trying to talk his son into playing it safe, Farrell vs Norton in a ruthless barroom throw down, and an unexpected hostage situation) I can’t say with a good conscience that the entertaining finale is worth its sluggish introduction. As I look back at those moments I think of them fondly. I appreciate them… but not enough to forget about the clunky trip there.

Rating: 4 out of 10 - Like I said, everyone on screen has one or two scenes where they absolutely kill it but, in more scenes than not, it’s the same old thing: Tough cops acting tough, doing DeNiro impersonations and peppering every conversation with the F word. At one point I was watching Farrell and thinking that I’d seen this performance from him a dozen times. Then ten minutes later he would do something completely unexpected and have me questioning where my head was at in that last scene. Still, for a guy so talented, you want to see him take chances and really do something original every time he’s on screen. He doesn’t and so help me I couldn’t think of a time he had since Bullseye in Daredevil. Yeah he was a goofy cartoon in that comic book disaster, but it sure was fun to watch.

Norton similarly plays it safe. He’s most fun to watch during his extremes. During the quite moments like the one-on-one conversation he has with a very young witness, or when he’s pushed to the point where he needs to push back. As things boil up towards the end of the movie he has confrontations with his brother and father over the right thing to do. Norton is electric there.

I struggled one too many times getting through Pride and Glory to see myself actually paying to do it again, even in the comfort of my own home.

Doubt - This is a surprisingly powerful trailer. It gives a little too much away about the story of a powerful and confident nun confronting a priest over the suspect abuse of a young black student, but does so with the kind of authority that will pull people into the theater. And this is a movie about a crotchety old nun, faith and priest molestation. Doubt is adapted to the screen from the play written and directed by John Patrick Shanley. It’s the kind of movie that won’t reach too far beyond its target audience, but the performances look outstanding so I’ll definitely be a face in the crowd.

Okay, I’m going to be straight with you – I didn’t expect to find anything of significance on the Pride and Glory Official site. Every movie should have a web site for promotional purposes, but with something as straight forward as Pride and Glory, aimed at a demo that doesn’t really visit the web as much as the crowds going to see something like Nick and Nora or even Saw V, you wouldn’t think there’d be anything there beyond synopsis, cast and crew and the movie’s trailer. Bare bones DVD – Now on the web!

I was completely shocked when I followed the link titled “The Badge� which led to a history of the New York City Police Department, including images of every badge used throughout the decades and detailed analysis of the NYPD patch. Granted, this is still information targeted at a crowd that hasn’t gotten to the point where they check their e-mail everyday, but it was a fascinating and unexpected find. It’s worth a quick look if you’re into the history and symbolism of the Police Department.

I feel a little silly about how today’s comic came about. I took a line from the trailer a little too literally. One officer says, “We sold our badges to the highest bidder� which had me thinking a group of cops on the run literally sold off their badges. They were just selling off the power though. Dirty deeds done at a price and all that. It was too late to change the comic but honestly I don’t mind too much. I think this one is nice and silly. Who doesn’t love gram crackers?

The Triple Feature will go live in about 45 minutes and we’ll be talking about the new releases or… Halloween stuff… I’m not really sure. We’re a little unprepared this week but it should be okay. Stop by to witness the chaos first hand.

In other news… I had some trouble getting into Twitter at first. I kept forgetting about it and ended up going days without posting anything at all. Being at home all day has certainly changed my perspective though. I’ve learned to use it more both casually and professionally having updates from everything including my first reactions to the films I see to what I’m having for lunch. It’s a lot of fun following the daily deeds of other friends and creators too. It makes being inside all day seem somewhat bearable. Anyway – I’m officially pro-Twitter now. Let it be known!

Thanks for reading guys. Another comic before you know it and hopefully some early reviews for the stuff that had a limited release here in New York. We’ll see how the week plays out.