by eliza czander
Pride and Glory is one of those movies that is inevitably entertaining, occasionally shocking, and most definitely familiar. If you think you’ve seen a similar movie, set against an identifiable back drop, snuggled into a good cop bad cop morality wins all-type genre…well, you have. There’s nothing new here; derivative storytelling, clichéd characters, and uninspired plot twists make up much of this gritty and graphic crime drama. The thing that is able to make this movie special is it’s talented cast, fantastic director, and merciless moral ideology cocooning each character and story line.
Ed Norton, Colin Farell, Noah Emmerich, Jon Voight, and the wonderful Jennifer Ehle make up the cast, and guided by Gavin O’Connor’s (“Miracle”) uneven, grainy approach to direction, this film ends up turning a would be typical NYPD good versus evil, emotionless yet intense cop movie, into something far more appealing.
Leaving the theater, the one thing that seemed to resonate with me was the candid Irishness of the film. I mean that in the sense that there are no blurred lines between right and wrong, good and bad. Pride and Glory is unforgiving in its portrayal of honesty and decency, and how in the end, the bad guys get theirs. The only character that straddles the proverbial line of ethics is Colin Farrel’s (who’s American accent, by the way, is fucking disgraceful). But even he, accordingly, gets what he had coming. That’s about all I’m going to give away here.
If you’re into New York, if you’re into crime wars, drug dealers, angles and demons…oh, and at times a very funny Jon Voight, you might like this movie. Hell, you might love it. To the point, and entertaining. It’s what many moviegoers prefer. For those of us who expect a little more, who want to be provoked and inspired by the films we see, it’s no secret that this one is lacking in areas; too much is underdeveloped and sometimes hackneyed. It’s no surprise that New Line had it on the shelf for two years before deciding to release it. I will say this though – there’s a fight scene between Ed and Colin that looks so real it gave me a total movie boner. So, hooray for that.
