Review: End of Watch

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena play a couple of ratbag LAPD officers, also the best of friends, who get up to their necks in trouble when they start sticking their nose in the territory of a Mexican drug cartel that has moved into the South Central area. Meanwhile, Gyllenhaal is recording their day-to-day procedures on a handheld camera for a film course he is taking. Anna Kendrick plays Gyllenhaal’s girlfriend, whilst Natalie Martinez is Pena’s pregnant wife. America Ferrera plays a tough Hispanic cop.

 

If you can get past the shaky-cam employed by writer/director David Ayer and cinematographer Roman Vasyanov, then this 2012 police flick is good stuff, if a bit déjà vu and stereotyped. The thing is, if it weren’t for that stylistic decision, the film would probably be even better than good. Either you accept the camerawork as being in-the-moment and realistic, or you say it simply alerts your attention to the presence of a camera and it takes you out of the moment. I’m of the latter, though I acknowledge that at least in this instance, the handheld camerawork is being employed by the main characters in the film as well. The thing is, though, that there’s a difference between something having a reason and logic, and something being necessary. I don’t think the first-person camerawork is necessary here, even if logic and reason are given. Still, this is leaps and bounds ahead of Ayer’s previous forays into cop flicks, the overrated “Training Day” (which he scripted) as well as the embarrassingly bad “Street Kings” (which he directed), and probably about on par with his script for “Dark Blue”.

 

The best thing about the entire film are Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena, who have an easy, somewhat douchy chemistry on screen that makes it seem like their dialogue is improvised, because it sounds so authentic and organic. The film itself is surprisingly funny and relaxed at times. At some points you have to wonder if these cops are complete dickheads or if their sarcasm and silly pranks are a kind of coping mechanism for the extremely strenuous, sometimes frightening job they have. Their frat-boy mentality (somewhat reminiscent of Gyllenhaal’s “Jarhead”) is funny at times, but at the same time, rather scary. These tools have very serious jobs. Meanwhile, I’m declaring it now: Anna Kendrick, I’m madly in love with you. Small girl, big talent (and a couple of other big things too if I might be so perverted...er...

bold). She’s absolutely charming and charismatic on screen. She just seems...nice, and absolutely natural too, like the male leads. She gets one hilarious scene where Pena’s drunk wife is telling her all the sex stuff she’s gonna have to do for Gyllenhaal when they get married; ‘The internet made that up!’ is Kendrick’s very funny and cute response. How can anyone not love this girl?

 

Less loveable is America Ferrara, who attempts to remind everyone she’s Hispanic by crying ‘Arriba!’ at one point. Is she Tito Fucking Santana or something? That racial stereotyping unfortunately extends to the film’s villains, who are borderline cartoony, and only seem to speak in twelve-letter words. Authentic to a degree, perhaps, but hardly interesting, and certainly not very threatening. The cops may clown around a lot, but these are still gritty circumstances, and the silly bad guys detract from what could’ve been an absolutely devastating ending. That and Mr. Ayer’s obvious obsession with first-person shooter computer games, opting for similar camera style in the opening and closing shots of the film. You’re not clever, dude. In fact, you’ve prevented your film from being better than it actually is. Such a shame.

 

I’m not sure Mr. Ayer brings anything new to the table here, a genre that Sidney Lumet has already covered a million times over, but this is probably the best cop flick since “Narc” at the very least. It’s definitely worth a look, especially if you’re not yet tired of cop movies.

 

Rating: B-