This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Copper-in-Law
Plot Overview
“This year's National Public Safety
Football League Championship game … has been a tough-fought
battle.” As the clock is winding down the NYPD team is leading the Detroit
Metro team 14 to 10. Detroit effects a 50 yard punt return. The next
play they spike the ball to stop the clock, and the next one is a
hail-Mary attempt to win in the final seconds, but the renowned Jimmy
Egan (Colin Farrell) harries the quarterback causing him to
overthrow the end zone. The crowd is ecstatic.
That's the good news. The bad news is a call coming in of cops down.
Jimmy's brother-in-law Francis Tierney Jr. (Noah Emmerich) being Chief
of the 31st Precinct responds with the rest of his crew to find four
cop bodies and not a clue what happened. His brother homicide detective
Raymond Tierney (Edward Norton) mans up to head the task force looking
for the perp. They find his dropped
burner cell phone by following its ring tone repetitively spitting
out the ‘word’ eauui in Morse code, sometimes
followed by nine dots—eight dots means an error to be corrected,
but who's counting? Figuring the ‘word’ to be a faulty
list of all the vowels, we can substitute the missing o
for the extra u to get either eauoi or
eaoui making the list complete. It's a rather lame clue
to the man jack's identity, so Ray must do some good detecting to
find Sandy's ex-wife's cousin the killer
who receives instant police justice. IAB is about to give the naughty cops a pass, but
conscience-stricken Ray harries his brother putting his crooked crew in
jeopardy amidst conflicting interests and loyalties.
Ideology
The game was played in “Brooklyn, borough of churches,” and the story takes place during the Christmas season (“Feliz navidad.”) New York's finest espouse community virtue and acquit themselves well with their own families. A priest presides over a funeral and a witness' abode holds votive candles. This is a setting that at least tries to honor God, though not everybody is fully on board. (Prov. 1:7) “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
(Prov. 1:8-9) “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.” Ray's father, retired police chief Francis Tierney Sr. (Jon Voight), advises his hesitant son to volunteer for the task force, saying, “You go at it with all the gifts God gave you.” Some of his other advice didn't seem so good, and his practical knowledge had gaps in it, but when he's right he's right.
(Prov. 1:10-19) “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.”
Cops going rogue and being on the take can result in violence as it does here and even loss of life. And sometimes it's the crook who loses his life. If one is aware of this danger beforehand he can avoid it happening to him by not falling in with the criminals to begin with.
Production Values
“” (2008) was directed by Gavin O'Connor. The story was by Gavin O'Connor and his brother Gregory O'Connor and by Robert Hopes. The screenplay was written by Joe Carnahan and Gavin O'Connor. It stars Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight, Noah Emmerich and Jennifer Ehle. We see fine performances from leads Voight, Norton, Emmerich and Farrell. There's also good support from Frank Grillo, Lake Bell and John Ortiz.
MPAA rated it R for strong violence, pervasive language and brief drug content. Languages spoken are English and Spanish. Note: most of the Spanish is not subtitled, but it's easy to get the gist of. Punctilious attention was paid to the cinematography, art direction, lighting and score. The denouement is violent and fanciful.
Review Conclusion w/ Christian Recommendation
This was a solid police drama: dark, brooding and intense. It's gritty verging on bombastic, full of clichés, overacted and poorly written for its convoluted style. The pervasive action and suspense help it overcome its flaws, however. Seeing it is like watching an intense football game in which the plays don't make fundamental sense except perhaps to the players themselves.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Edge of your seat action-packed. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
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