New York City finds itself in a pitiable
state, as incumbent Mayor Nicholas Hostetler double-crosses and frames an
ex-cop-turned-private-detective Billy Taggart, in order to regain his position
in the upcoming elections.
With the superlative performances by the
cast (including stalwarts such as Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe and Catherine
Zeta-Jones), a powerful, albeit meandering, screenplay, enchanting background
music and a fairly engaging plot, 'Broken City' has all the makings of the
perfect weekend entertainer.
Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) is a
former-cop-turned-private-eye. New York City mayoral elections are underway,
and the cunning incumbent Nicholas Hostetler (Russell Crowe) is willing to do
anything to keep his position by beating his rival Jack Valliant (Barry
Pepper).
According to Nicholas, the people of New
York City will elect anybody as the Mayor, but a man who has been cheated on by
his partner. He suspects his wife, Cathleen Hostetler, of having an affair with
somebody. He hires Billy to take photographs of his wife's partner.
Billy's got his own back-story. Seven years
ago (before present day in the movie), he had shot dead Mikey Tavarez (Luis
Tolentino), a man who raped and killed his girlfriend Natalie Barrow's (Natalie
Martinez) younger sister. Now, while Billy gets away from being imprisoned,
owing to the intervention of Nicholas, he has to return the favour. Nicholas
makes it obligatory for Billy to say yes to his errand, for which he was
willing to pay $50,000. Now, there are several twists and turns in the film,
most of them being immensely fascinating. It would really spoil your experience
if they are revealed. Let's just say that Billy is in for multiple rude shocks,
while he goes about this easy-looking task.
The story is meandering, but at no point,
are you flummoxed to the point of being disinterested. The film manages to
engage you throughout its duration. The lovely background score forms a wonderful
foil to the thrilling visuals. The dramatic scenes between Billy and Nicholas,
Billy and his girlfriend Natalie, and, in particular, the election debate, are
excellently played out. The performances by the cast, Russell, Wahlberg and
Catherine, are beyond brilliant. Wahlberg, who can be safely termed as the lone
protagonist, gives an effortless performance. A bit more humour in his
character would have worked perfectly, though. Russell Crowe is brilliant as
the conniving mayor and so is Catherine Zeta-Jones, in a short, yet significant
role. The supporting cast does a wonderful job as well. The few drawbacks in
the film are as follows; unnecessary back-story and not enough reasoning given
for the twists. Yes, you could take as many leaps of faith as you wish to, but
those looking for a flawless plot will be left a tad disappointed. For a debut
feature film, director Allan Hughes has done a marvellous job. The best part
about the film was that it has no black-and-white. All characters have shades
of grey, and come with their own infirmities. That helps a lot in making the
story believable.
This film mixes the following genres,
Drama, Action and Thriller, perfectly. Don't miss it!
Shivom
Oza
Broken City had the potential to become a great suspense thriller. Instead it becomes a run of the mill movie. Two powerful actors Russell Crowe and Catherine Zeta-Jones have been completely wasted in the movie. The movie moves around too many things instead of concentrating to remain a suspense thriller and director loses the plot completely.
ReplyDelete