Review of Broken City (2013) by Biggjay C — 03 May 2013

Broken City fails to be something worthy from a weak crammed story in this crime/political thriller film. Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) was lucky enough to be set free as he shot a rapist that created a controversy with the people while Mayor Hostetler (Russell Crowe) eliminated the evidence.

Years later, Mayor Hostetler hires Billy who now runs his own private eye work because he thinks his wife Cathleen Hostetler (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is having an affair. Allen Hughes makes a great use of Atticus Ross score being electronic and fitting for the tone of the movie.

Although, the acting was weak as the entire cast could have easily done their roles with a script that did not have much to offer. Mark Wahlberg, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Barry Pepper and Russell Crowe are all good actors/actress.

They just were placed in roles they did not really need to put much effort into, as well as characterization only consisted of Wahlbergs character struggling with his drinking problem that rises again after he sees his girlfriend acting in a romance movie with a love scene she partakes.

The story of the movie really felt crammed together with mystery moments that would eventually lead to a interesting predictable twist. The subplot also never gets resolved involving Billy and his girlfriend Natalie (Natalie Martinez) as she was the reason why Billy shot the rapist that raped her sister, and their relationship gets conflicted with her being an actress.

The subplot felt lazy, and pointless to the story involving corruption. Overall, Broken City is a terrible movie with a predictable twist involving political corruption, and a badly put together story.