Review of Pride and Glory (2008) by Spangle — 24 Dec 2016

A run-of-the-mill cop crime drama, Pride and Glory features good performances from its cast, but never really does anything with the plot that has not been done before. For fans of the CBS golden oldies cop show Blue Bloods though, Pride and Glory may seem like a gritty precursor to seeing Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg save New York every Friday (or other day?) night. A film about family, crime, and dirty cops, Pride and Glory is essentially a film about four cops being killed in suspicious fashion, which leads to an unraveling of corruption and internal cover-ups on the part of the cops. Typical, aggressive, and unambitious, Pride and Glory should be enjoyed for the acting and that is about the end of it the positives.

That said, its adherence to cliches in its plot and characters does boost the film ever so slightly. There is reason why they are cliches and it is because it leads to a compelling film. Thus, while incredibly predictable and standard in its development, Pride and Glory's plot still manages to provide intrigue and tension along the way because of its cliches. Though the acting factors in here as well, the writing does craft an interesting plot, even if it is incredibly disposable. Its plot and characters, however, are certainly pretty racist. With Dominicans portrayed as nothing but gangsters, murderers, and junkies, Pride and Glory seems to have an issue with Dominicans, even including a line where Colin Farrell's character calls Spanish a "monkey language". Pretty risque stuff. Yes, it is part of the characterization for Farrell, but certainly offensive and his character could be developed in a different fashion.

Incredibly slow at times, the film finds tension and action through the acting in the film. In particular, Colin Farrell turns in an intense performance as Jimmy Egan. A corrupt, passionate, and unethical man, Jimmy is a cop who is deeply unhinged. He literally threatens to iron a baby in this movie. He is that crazy. I would be lying if I said his character was not thoroughly engrossing on screen, even if he is a bit of a caricature. Edward Norton stars as Ray Tierney, a detective looking to right the past who stumbles upon the cover-up and corruption. As always, Norton turns in a calculated and thoroughly great performance. A calming presence almost, Norton is not given nearly enough to chew on and clearly mails this one in, but even then, he is great. It is a shame to see him stuck in a cliched film such as this, instead of something far more challenging. Noah Emmerich also is quite good as Francis Tierney, a smart cop on his way up in the department. As always, he plays a calm, everyman type of guy who is incredibly down to Earth. He definitely plays the same guy in every movie, but I like it anyways.

Overall, Pride and Glory is typical and disposable. I am already forgetting it as I write this. That said, its acting cannot be ignored and far exceeds the quality of the script.