Review of End of Watch (2012) by Dawdlingpoet — 24 Nov 2021

This is a particularly gritty urban drama thats filmed in a docu-drama style, with shaky camerawork making it appear as if its a reality show or documentary. For comparisons sake, I'd say this is somewhat similar to other movies set in the 'ghettos' of LA such as Boyz In The Hood, only obviously focussing on white cops. There's alot of bravado talk or banter, sexist/sexual innuendos made between the officers. I found that some of the scenes are a bit difficult to follow in as much as there's alot of dark lighting used, or otherwise its mainly set at night and with the rather wobbly camerawork, it makes it a bit disorientating - this is probably not the best title to watch if your particularly prone to motion sickness, I should probably warn. There is plenty of violence throughout the movie, mainly gunshots and some rather bloody, gory shots, so its not for the squeamish either. Given the camerawork, this has quite an edgy feel to it and its obviously quite depressing as well.

There's a fair amount of suspense and I found myself feeling the desperation the cops felt to get out of their situation.

In the end, this is a hard movie to watch due to the bleakness it portrays but I wouldn't say it comes across as glamorising violence or being too 'Hollywood', although perhaps slightly at the end where I did wonder about the likelihood of the ending but that might just be me and its hardly entirely positive - it just paints a picture of the way such areas can be run by violent gangs and the battle(s) the police are faced with.

It was interesting to note the change in tone between when Brian and Mike are chatting as friends in the patrol car and when their in full work mode, which was probably reinforced to make you aware of their family background, with both either fathers or soon to be fathers.

I'd say this movie does a good job of seeming realistic and Gyllenhaal I felt gave the best performance overall - I felt that he gave a very convincing portrayal of Brian Taylor, with alot of emotion (determination/grit/desperation/sadness) showing in his eyes, if that makes any sense. Clearly this movie contains some gruesome moments, although it didn't make me jump too much as such, as having seen some somewhat similar movies I had an idea of what may be faced in such a movie - its a bit sad to expect such grim things but be that as it may, that is the case. Of course this means the movie does contain rather strong violence, as well as very strong language, sexual references and so on. This movie carries a 15 rating, although to me I'd say its borderline between a 15 and an 18 rating, content wise - I'd imagine it was given the lower rating as the more disturbing scenes are shown perhaps relatively briefly but I certainly wouldn't recommend this be shown or necessarily watched by young teenagers.

For the type of movie it is, I thought it was well made and I felt it was quite suspenseful in parts, with Gyllenhaal giving a particularly good performance and on that basis yes, I'd recommend it. This movie certainly won't suit everyone and isn't a particularly easy watch as such but otherwise, I'd recommend it.