End of Watch

My Grade:  A

I haven’t been this pumped to see a cop film in a long time.  Even the trailer gets my blood pumping.  And I love Training Day (written by David Ayer who wrote and directed End of Watch).  So, needless to say, before going to see End of Watch, my expectations were very high.  Sometimes high expectations come back to bite me because the film doesn’t live up to them.  This film, however, certainly lived up to my expectations.

Most cop films these days look the same and use mostly the same plot points.  They either show cops that try to solve the biggest crime of their career, seek revenge for something that happened to their partner, or are dirty cops playing both sides of the law.  You don’t see a lot of seemingly innocuous traffic stops that have as big of consequences as one does in End of Watch.  You also don’t usually get well-developed characters in hardcore cop action films.  You do in End of Watch.  These things alone make this film stand head and shoulders above most of the cop films that have come out in the last few years.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena work so well together.  They have an on-screen chemistry that rivals couples in the best rom-coms.  It’s a total bromance that they have going on, but it’s not nearly as cheesy as I Love You Man or any other bromance-heavy films.  These two are willing to die for each other and that is where the heart of this film lies.  Loyalty, friendship, and love are at it’s heart and it’s certainly nice to see a cop movie with this kind of heart.

The story jumps around a little too much, though.  It definitely keeps you entertained throughout, but some things happen then don’t get addressed fully.  One such instance involves some ICE agents.  See it and you’ll know what I’m talking about.  The basic premise of the story, though, is very strong. Even though it seems contrived at times, the idea that a couple of good hearted cops can get in way over their heads even during a routine traffic stop is realistic and something that anyone can relate to.  Even if you aren’t a cop (which I’m not), everyday things can take wild turns anytime and you never really know what life will throw at you.

My other beef with the film is the explanation they use for why it feels like a found footage film.  Don’t get me wrong, I like the fact that End of Watch takes the found footage craze and integrates it into a cop film; however, the way they explain it is lame.  Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) is going to law school while working as a police officer.  One of his electives is a filmmaking class, so he decides to film a bunch of stuff at his job.  The reason this is lame is because it doesn’t really affect his character and they only discuss it once.  Taylor is never shown at a law school class, he never mentions law school, and he doesn’t even seem to be very into movies. It’s arbitrary and just comes off as an excuse when David Ayer doesn’t even need an excuse to shoot it how he shot it.  Filmmaking class or not, the handheld/first person camera style is great for this kind of film because it put the audience in the action and makes the entire film that much more gripping.

Gripping is a perfect word for this film.  It is exciting, well-acted, the banter between the leads is amazing, and the end literally shocked me.  It’s not often that I am speechless but the climactic scene of End of Watch left my mouth literally agape with my hand covering it… just like you see in the movies.  But, this was real life… because of a movie.