Broken City

I like Allen Hughes.  And his brother Albert Hughes.  They used to direct movies as a pair.  A pair they were.  Twins you see.  Their last movie was The Book of Eli.  They started off with a movie called Menace II Society.  I thought Eli was an OK movie.  And I haven’t seen M II S as of now but I have heard that is also just about OK.

So why do you think I like him?
Well you see, Allen, Albert and I share something in common.  The twins are exactly 3 years elder to me =)).  Feels great to not be alone.  But you will not blame me at all because the 3 of us were born on the 1^st of April.  Them in 1972.  And do your math for when I was born :D:D.  Hey Dhammo – are you reading this?!?!?!?

But I will not allow my favouritism to come in the way of my review.  I mean, principles ought to stand for something right? But those principles of honesty and work ethic mean very little to a lot of people right? Mayor Nicholas Hostetler (Russell Crowe) for one would actually not bother to read Mayoral Ethics 101.

How else would you explain his decision to do away with a significant part of New York City – Bolton Village? Do away not in the literal sense of the world but sell it off to a large corporation at a sum of $4 billion.  All to show before the upcoming election day that he is closing his term at a surplus of $3 billion.  Honestly, that’s what people will see at the end of it all.  And the mayor is all too familiar with this truth.

But there is something amiss as Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) is about to find out.  The mayor gives Billy an assignment to track his wife Cathleen (Catherine Zeta-Jones).  He thinks the first lady is fooling around with someone.  Billy tracks mystery man to be Paul Andrews (Kyle Chandler).

But first lady catches up and makes Billy a counter offer to not share the photographs.  Billy, however, sticks to his word.  The result – Paul Andrews is shot dead.  Why is this so important? Because Paul Andrews is the campaign manager for the Mayor’s opponent – Jack Valliant (Barry Pepper).  Death for adultery? Seems a bit farfetched right?

 

In terms of direction, the Hughes brothers have a long way to go.  But the good news is that Allen, independent of this twin for the first time, doesn’t let the bar fall down too hard.  He builds the intrigue well enough.  But I guess, somewhere along the road he lets the movie wander along a bit aimlessly.  Could have done with a cut or two to get the length down closer to 90 mins.

 

Warning – a very dialogue intensive movie and a bit is left to the imagination and interpretation of the watcher.  So be prepared to listen hard.  You may lose a few vital pieces of information if you don’t pay attention.  Definitely watchable.  It has moved into the 2^nd week.  So I guess it is worth a dekko.  6 on 10.

 

Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2787877913/