Director: David Ayer
Screenplay: David Ayer
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena, Anna Kendrick, Frak Grillo, America Ferrera
Synopsis is here
I was quite bowled over with End of Watch. Its combination of the
mundane and the visceral really appealed to me. My girlfriend was less
impressed, frustrated by the film's running time. I was less bothered by this.
The film is in no way as economical as it could be, with the films length
allowing some of its narrative aspects to almost trip it up. However the film
is less about its narrative and more about its characters. For me, the film is
effective when we gain the sense of just how haunted these police members
are as they battle against the grimness of their eco-system.
There is visual
inventiveness within the film too. End of Watch's cinematographer Geoffrey
Jackobsson, confines these two officers within their police car. Note that the
ironic and unfortunate district number is often caught as we cut
around the vehicle with abstract Micheal Mann like shots. It's within this car
we get to know these men personally. We see them at peace, see them at
their sanctuary. This ideal only intensifies as we witness the danger
the officers’ face each time they pick up a call and exit the vehicle.
Much has been said
about the films "found footage" aspect; often a bane of contention
with many, here, I found aesthetic to be one of the film’s best touches.
It's easy to feel that such an element is a gimmick thanks to
the consistent use of the tactic by horror films, however, in the
same way a director like Martin Scorsese uses 16mm to capture a feel of
nostalgia and history, Director David Ayer uses the "handy cam"
footage to accurately convey a certain sense of relevance of our
current culture. Its opening sequence, a car chase with downtown LA, doesn't
have the pace that we often see in a crime thriller (such is the beauty of good
editors), but it does have the realism. Take away Gyllenhaal and Pena and this
could be any video lifted from youtube. Not all of it works. Like so many films
which dabble in "user generated" footage; one may find it hard to
believe that, say, hardened gangster would be filming some of their
exploits in such a way. But while there's a feeling of the improbable, it's
never impossible, and the film using the method as a part of the aesthetic
and not the whole,
allows an intimacy and immediacy that works well with
the narrative and the genre.
David Ayer (writer
of Training Day) captures the distress of the situations so well it shows on
the characters faces. Part of the film’s success with me is that; despite its
somewhat generic plot, its grimness is boiled down to such a concentrated level
you can feel it on everybody's skin. My girlfriend's aforementioned issue with
the length of the film is an interesting one, mostly because I loved how the
film happily spends much of its time with its main relationship, getting under
the skin of these guys, seeing what makes them tick. We gain such a sense of
these characters that when they are affronted with what they see, we can feel
it in their bones as much as they can. We understand why they're so hardened,
and we can fear and/or pity them accordingly. They remind me of coroners,
having to place a shield between them and their subject to deal with
their day to day harshness. It's compelling when the darkness breaks through.
You need a good
cast for this, and End of Watch picks a strong bunch of talent and plays to all
of their strengths. Gynllenhaal is always at his best as a jaded,
young recruit be it of the Army or Giant Time Travelling Bunnies and the choice
of him being the main thrust of the narrative is a solid one. Pena is superb as
Gynllenhaal's foil. While Gynllenhaal's Brian Taylor deals with the worrying conundrums of
it all, Pena's Mike Zavala is the heart of the film. All emotions and hot
blood, Zavala is the most instinctive and reactive out of the two. Pena's
performance takes something that could feel stale and typical and injects new
energy to it. The chemistry between the two is so engaging that one could
easily just watch them shoot the shit. It's worth mentioning a sweet
performance from Anna Kendrick as well as a nice turn from Frank Grillo, who
places the perfect amount of weight to a small but important scene.
End of Watch
doesn't do too much in way of fresh storytelling, but the
films technique and performances bring forth a bold
and riveting piece about two men trying to do good in a
corrosive environment.
