End of Watch (September 21, 2012)
Director: David Ayer
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Anna Kendrick, Natalie Martinez
Writer: David Ayer

I bet all ye chutiyas have not seen a gritty, fast-paced, fine cop movie like End of Watch in a long, long time.

If ever.

Easily the best Hollywood cop film I’ve watched in recent years.

Not surprising considering End of Watch director and writer David Ayer was also the writer of the 2001 cop film Training Day that earned Denzel Washington the Best Actor Oscar and Ethan Hawke a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.

End of Watch is that rare movie that grabs you by the balls, hurls you into the seat and doesn’t let go until the credits start floating at the end.

It’s that kinda movie.

A beautifully made, riveting film that cleverly alternates between the shooting, chasing, rescuing and kicking doors down cop routine with nice comic moments in the patrol car.

Add a few romantic interludes in between, wrap it all in crisp dialogs and good acting and, voila, there’s your formula for a non-stop entertainer and success at the box office.

Drugs, Guns and Bad Guys

Set in the brutally violent, gang and drugs ridden seedy parts of South Central Los Angeles where more crime happens in a single week than in years elsewhere, the movie has Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Mike Zavala (Michael Peña) as police officers and partners (meaning that they work together in the same car, watching each other’s back).

The two cops make a nice contrast.

Brian is White; Mike is Hispanic.

Mike is happily married with a baby on the way; Brian is still single.

Brian is the refined, serious, cerebral sort; Mike the less-educated, street-smart kind with wisecracks on tap.

The comic stuff comes mostly from the White-Latino racist banter between the two cops in their patrol car.

The duo nab bad guys with illegal weapons, rescue kids from deadly fires, and even manage to win awards.

All’s fine until one day they bust a huge dope smuggling operation run by a powerful South American drug cartel.

The day of reckoning has arrived for the two cops!

Good Cast

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña deliver compelling performances, never over the top and very appealing and endearing all the time.

The rest of the cast (Anna Kendrick, Natalie Martinez etc) have itsy-bitsy roles but do a more than adequate job.

Although the bad guys (and gals) have small roles, they leave a powerful impact for the intensity of their performances.

The photography is remarkable and apt for a movie of this genre.

A lot of the chasing and fighting in closed spaces is captured by handheld cameras giving a jerky, realistic look that’s totally in sync with the rush and blur of the action on the screen.

If you’re hungry for an adrenaline rush this weekend, then End of Watch is the movie for you. The movie is playing in theatres across America.

Go for it!