We Own the Night (2007)

Average rating

(66%)

Starring:	Joaquin Phoenix \| Eva Mendes \| Mark Wahlberg \| Robert Duvall \| Alex Veadov \| Dominic Colon \| Danny Hoch \| Oleg Taktarov
Director:	James Gray
Studio:	UNIVERSAL
Run time:	117 mins
Collections:	100 Hot Hits \| 100 Most Wanted
Genres:	Drama \| Thriller
Languages:	English, Russian
Released:	April 28, 2008
Also available on:	We Own the Night is also available on Digital We Own the Night is also available on hd_dvd

New York 1988, Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) has changed his name to conceal his family connection to a long line of distinguished New York cops in order to pursue ambitions as a Brooklyn nightclub owner. As he turns a blind eye to the drug dealers around him, he comes face to face with the family he abandoned when his brother (Mark Wahlberg) and father (Robert Duvall) crack down on the club. Now Bobby must choose a side. Is he going to turn informant or will he help run the biggest crime ring in New York history?

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Highest rated reviews

59 out of 62 people found the following review helpful:

We Own The Night

ValleyJohn from , 12th March, 2008

I must review over 150 movies a year . Sometimes , when i am on a bad run , it can become a chore . But what makes sitting through another laugh less Will Ferrell movie a little more acceptable is when an unexpected gem comes along that blows you away. We own the night is one such gem.

Bobby Green has turned his back on the family business. The popular manager of El Caribe, the legendary Russian-owned nightclub in Brooklyn's Brighton Beach, he has changed his last name and concealed his connection to a long line of distinguished New York cops. For Bobby, every night is a party, as he greets friends and customers or dances with his beautiful Puerto Rican girlfriend, Amada, in a haze of cigarette smoke and disco music. But it's 1988, and New York City's drug trade is escalating. Bobby tries to keep a friendly distance from the Russian gangster who is operating out of the nightclub--a gangster who is being targeted by his brother, Joseph, an up-and-coming NYPD officer, and his father, Burt, the legendary deputy chief of police.

I'm not sure what was released the same week at We own the night but it must have been great for this to have slipped under the radar . I don't remember it getting a great deal of publicity or even a lot of reviewers column inches but it sure as hell should have!

Joaquin Phoenix is fantastic as Bobby Green .A man so stuck between a rock and a hard place that his life is in tatters . consumed by grief and suffering an intolerable amount of stress this emotional performance is of the highest quality . There are several scenes that Joaquin manages to get right into the skin of Bobby . Thanks to this talented actor , you feel his hate and anger , his frustration and his grief and that is something not many leading men can manage to do .

There are also good performances from Eva Mendes and the Legendary Robert Duvall.
Mark Wahlberg is always expressionless when acting and the same goes for his portrayal of Joseph . He's a little too one dimensional but because he picks his films well his inabilities as an actor seem to be forgotten .

Considering this film is two hours long it seemed to fly by and if anything could have benefited with maybe another half an hour .
There are two scenes especially that stand out for me. One is when Bobby confronts his brother after his is taken in when his club is raided and the other is the car chase scene when his father gets shot . Both are compelling as they are shocking.

The closest i can compare this film to is The Departed . The subject matter is very similar but i liked this better . It's grittier and has a sound track that will bring back many great memories if you were an eighties teenager like me.

If i had to criticise this film for anything it is that the final showdown with the Russians was a little bit of an anti climax considering how edgy the rest of the film was. .

This is soon forgotton when in a moving final scene the two brothers tell each other exactly how they feel .
A fitting climax to a brilliant film.

9 out of 10

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Very Good

Rubydoo from from Whitehaven, 6th August, 2008

I was disappointed when I missed seeing this film at the cinema so I was excited about watching it when it arrived through the door. I had a quick look at the reviews before I watched it and noticed that many people had likened We Own the Night to The Departed. Now this is a good film and I enjoyed it very much but it does not come close to The Departed. Phoenix is exceptional in this role, he must pick his roles carefully as he always gets the good ones and always delivers. Wahlberg is Wahlberg, very one dimensional, but non the less, very good at what he does. The story is gritty and real. I think I would have possibly gave the film 5 stars but the end came very very quickly and was a bit of a disappointment given the quality of the rest of it. But this is a film that should be watched, it must have slipped under the radar when it was released as I haven't seen anything about it apart from the trailer that was shown at the cinema, strange for such a quality film.

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