Broken City

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jeffrey Wright, Barry Pepper, Alona Tal, Kyle Chandler, Natalie Martinez
Directed by: Allen Hughes
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Thriller
2013

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A private investigator (Mark Wahlberg) gets pulled into a dark conspiracy when he agrees to investigate the wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) of the powerful NYC mayor (Russell Crowe).

Review:

Tim: Broken City is the first film I officially reviewed in 2013, and it gets the year off to a good start. This isn't a great movie, but it's a solid film, and it ended up being significantly better than I expected. I was intrigued by the premise, kept interested through the different turns of the story, and ultimately entertained from start to finish. While flawed, this is a good movie.

I used to be a big fan of corrupt-type movies, but a series of bad films soured me a bit on the topic. However, this film gets a good deal right, which helps it be enjoyable. We have a small guy verses a large, corrupt, powerful government official. The movie starts out going one way, but has no hesitation in spiraling off in a different direction. While the film doesn't offer any huge twists, it moves quickly enough to keep the audience on its toes. I was never sure quite what to expect next. That made the story compelling.

I often criticize Mark Wahlberg for making bad movies, but I thought he worked really well here. He was a complicated character who makes a number of mistakes, but he plays him so that it's easy for us to forgive him. I wanted him to win, even though his character was a bit unlikable. Making us care about him was a huge achievement for Wahlberg, and one of the big reasons this movie worked. It was also nice to see Russell Crowe, who seems to have slowed down his pace of working recently. I missed seeing him on screen, and he was fun as the corrupt, shady, powerful New York City mayor. This wasn't one of his best performances, but it worked well in this film. It was fun to see Wahlberg and Crowe clash on screen.

I was glad to see Catherine Zeta-Jones here, but she is criminally underused. She simply has nothing compelling to do, and I felt like her talent was wasted here. I usually like Jeffrey Wright, and while he didn't impress me here, he gives a serviceable turn as a police captain. Barry Pepper is a very underrated actor, and he gives a charismatic, occasionally powerful performance here. Pepper really adds to the film. Alona Tal's role was borderline unnecessary, but she seized the most of the moment and have a memorable performance. I really hope to see her do more soon. Kyle Chandler was also a nice addition to the cast. The cast was impressive, and one of the big reasons I found this movie so enjoyable.

Allen Hughes directed an enjoyable movie away from his usual co-directing brother. He certainly has some talent, and while I do not believe he's directed a truly great movie, his work behind the camera is well worth watching. He balances a number of different elements here and always moves the movie along. This movie is a nice length of 109 minutes, and Hughes keeps the plot moving forward. There is some nice mystery here, and the resolution was believable. I found myself caught up in the story and excited to see how it would all end.

Broken City is a movie that didn't look very appealing to me at first. However, the film was made quite well, and while it'll never be a classic, it was an entertaining, thrilling film. I wholly expect this movie will get lost in the best 2013 film has to offer, but to start the year, you can do far worse than this movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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