Review of End of Watch (2012) by Ben L — 01 Jun 2016

I definitely could enjoy a realistic cop drama starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena as partners. I mean these guys are totally charming and you can tell they're having a blast. Throw in a little Anna Kendrick and I am a happy camper, even if she did feel a bit out of place in this movie. There's nothing wrong with showing the day-to-day adventures of cops in a dangerous city, and most of the things they did in this movie came across as extremely authentic (as if a police consultant was always right next to them every moment, showing them how it's done.) There's just 2 faults that I found in the film that make it one that I will probably never watch again, and one that I can't rate higher. First is a pet peeve of mine that I know others don't mind as much as me, but I prefer a better narrative structure that connects one scene to the next. The movie feels very choppy as it bounces from one night to a different night that could be a week or month later with no warning. The movie lacks some cohesion in my opinion because of the choices they make in how to tell the story.

The second, and easily the biggest flaw I find in End of Watch, is that it's a stupid found-footage film!! I'm sorry, I know there are people who might enjoy that, but it is an awful way of making movies. They never have a logical explanation for all the shots, so I'm constantly asking myself "Well, who put a camera there?" or "Why would anyone film this?" Then there is the constant need for people to reference the camera's presence with phrases like "Get that camera out of my face!" or "You can't film this." Naturally there are excuses for why people have cameras that is written into the script in some ham-fisted way, but it never makes sense. I want to appreciate the positives in this movie but I'm constantly annoyed, distracted, and even a little bit nauseated by the shaking camera. There is nothing about this film that is made better by the found-footage/documentary style of presentation. It's a shame because there are moments that could be brilliant, and I can't say I was ever bored by End of Watch, but I'll gladly never watch it again.