End of Watch

It's been a while since we've had a good cop movie. Brooklyn's Finest and Street Kings are two that come to mind but it's been a few years since these came out. And since the success of Training Day it seems like every one that has been released is about dirty cops. Do we hate when cops pull us over for speeding, drunk driving, and/or while we're getting some sort of oral pleasure while driving around the local park at night? Yes, but overall cops are just doing their job and there are actually quite a few that are legit and do heroic things on a daily basis. Well not in the country, all of them are corrupt backwards hicks who popped open a bottle of champagne the day Rodney King died.

I kid, I kid, please don't arrest and beat up every Black man you see until you find me.

But once again I got off track; what I was trying to say is that it was fine time for a movie about decent cops that isn't overly sappy like Lethal Weapon 4, Police Academy 12 Cadets in Love, or any Bruckheimer crapfest that he's created. Well luckily for us, this is just what David Ayer provides in the form of End of Watch. He directed the gritty Harsh Times and Street Kings and was the writer for Training Day. And just for freshness he also wrote the game changing and poetic The Fast and the Furious.

If you have seen any of these movies, then you think you know what to expect; a brutal and uncompromising story. But Ayer throws you a bit of curve here with a character study. I remember the first character study I was exposed to, and that was Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead starring Nic Cage. I left the theater thinking it was just okay and that it leaned more toward the weird and pointless side but this was before I really understood the point of this style of movie and well before I gained a true understanding of how awesome Cage and his overacting is. As a matter of fact, I need to rent this movie so I can appreciate how hysterical Cage is in it..

But anyway, you are immediately introduced to the film's stars Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Mike Zavala (Michael Pena) through the eyes of the cop car cam as they are in a high speed chase which ends with an intense shoot out with some local thugs. Once they are cleared for any wrongdoing they are allowed to return to the job and Ayer takes you through their typical day which is spread out over a non specified amount of time. And as he does you get ample time to know each character, the personal issues they are experiencing and how they bring those to their day job. The fact that they spend the majority of their time together and know each other better than their actual families do gives you a true understanding of the bond they form with each other. But the cool thing is that you are never forced to hear some lame story as to why they became a cop or are forced to watch some cheesy over the top slow motion scene where they save an old lady who is dangling from a rooftop.

What you are exposed to are the calls they have to answer. Now here is where he kind of made them the Forrest Gumps of the LAPD, as in they discover some pretty heavy stuff with each call. I believe he does this on purpose for not only entertainment purposes but to tell the stories that he feels are forgotten with the general disdain the Fuck the Police culture has bred. I wont tell you what each discovery brings but it seems like each house, car, or party they investigate has a sheet behind it that once it is pulled back brings another level of intensity you weren't quite ready for.

Ayer also films this a bit differently as he sometimes uses standard camera shots to tell the story. But he also uses shaky cam through the eyes of cameras attached to the police themselves or through the cameras the local gang members are carrying around. The cool thing is its actually not overdone and for the most part it adds to the story. Anna Kendrick brings her usually good performance as Brian's love interest and David Harbour adds a nice element as kind of the warning label for bitter cops that have been in it too long.

Overall, I thought this movie was FRESH and definitely suggest that you check it out because it is full of some great shoot out scenes, tough cholos, and the perky C cups of Kendrick.