Review of End of Watch (2012) by Gerardo R — 08 Jun 2013

A great non-traditional cop story. The chemistry between Gyllenhaal and Peña comes off as honest and multidimensional. They treat each other with respect, but they also joke about each other irreverently with great fun. The film has a lot of heart and also good suspense action.

A lot of the filming comes across as "Cops" tv show. In some cases Gyllenhaal's character is handling a camera and it presents the scenes as he were filming it. On other cases it uses the camera footage from the police car or uses the video game technique where you only see the hand with the gun. A minor critique I have is that the reality type filming was interesting, but it also detracted from the kind of film it was. It had a few sensational sequences that project a more fictional presentation of the material. Few cops would run into the number of heroic situations that they face in the film. Nevertheless, the situations are well crafted and bring depth to the characters. As they inadvertently clash with a cartel syndicate growing in their assigned patrol neighborhood the stakes go up. The writer and director did a nice job of blending realistic and unrealistic scenarios to keep the film grounded and consistent for the viewer.

The relationship between Gyllenhaal and Peña receives good attention with meaningful dialogue that make them truly human characters that the viewers can sympathize with as they place their lives on the line knowing the kind of life they have outside of duty. Unlike many movies the cops are not portrayed as all good or all bad. These are dedicated officers with flaws, but willing to fight for what they hold to be right. The well rounded characters make this film stand out which is no surprise given the background of director/writer David Ayer.