Review of Broken City (2013) by James W — 28 Mar 2014

I've never seen a neo-noir type movie, nor expressed any interest in the genre but apparently Broken City falls under that category. All I know is that neo-noir movies tend to use lighting to exaggerate how characters feel or to express their motives, and the characters themselves are either femme fatales, doomed anti heroes or tough detectives entangled in corruption and deceit.

Broken City nicely puts these conventions to use, delivering a moody and mysterious adventure that focuses on private detective Billy Taggart who is hired by Mayor Nicholas Hostetler to investigate his supposed cheating wife, Catherine Zeta Jones.

I think what I enjoyed most was how broke the characters were by lies and corruption, getting themselves caught up in schemes and motives that could lead to harm or even death. Whilst there's not an over abundance of action, there are some tense scenes that involve heavy dialogue where threats are thrown and characters used, and in this case dialogue driven scenes are probably more effective than guns blazing action, although saying that there's a decent car brawl.

Natalie Martinez gets top marks playing Taggart's aspiring actress girlfriend, she's the one who keeps Taggart's drinking problems under control, yet she's rather underused like Catherine Zeta Jones which is a shame but they do get to shine.

There's great chemistry and banter between Wahlberg and Alona Tal who plays Taggart's assistant, these two add some humour amongst the darkness. I recommend Broken City, based on characters alone it's a solid movie.