nickmesafilms Review of End of Watch

End of Watch (2012)

End of Watch (2012) - Let's Take This Time to Respect Our Police Officers!

[9/10 · 29 December 2012]

David Ayer, writer of the film "Training Day", writes and directs this 109-minute police drama discussing the dangerous profession of being a LAPD officer in the middle of an underworld of shootings, homicides, drugs, and kidnapping. Told through a similar style of found footage photography, "End of Watch" stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena as two young LA officers who are on the run, trying to take down the members of a drug cartel, after discovering small caches of money and firearms during a traffic stop. Preparing for their roles, Gyllenhaal and Pena actually spent five months training as LA officers, by under- going a variety of 12-hour ride-alongs. The practice definitely paid off, since these two professional actors shared electrifying chemistry with one another, giving the audience full belief that these are real officers working in LA, than just actors reading lines. Each of these actors delivering one memorable performance after the next: Gyllenhaal as a young officer recently starting a relationship with Anna Kendrick, and Pena as a married man with a new baby about to arrive. Watching these two actors deliver fantastically driven performances are the stuff of Oscar nominations. The fantastically well-written dialouge shared between Gyllenhaal and Pena during their patrol ride-alongs feel clever and realistic, while the already-tired concept of found-footage footage, surprisingly does a unique job at capturing the rough and dangerous world of LA and it's police officers. However, "End of Watch" doesn't deliver a main focus as it was promised from the trailer, as it seemed that these two might be on the verge of losing their jobs after a crazy discovery. But as it turns out, it's only focus is Pena and Gyllenhaal breaking through doors and arresting suspects. But these graphic and haunting scenes still, not for the faint of heart, work really well in the film, capturing an incredibly dark world where not everyone follows the law. *SPOILER ALERT* - Although the found-footage art-form worked really well in the scenes were Gyllenhaal and Pena are on the field, it did, however, strike me odd that the main villains leading the drug cartel are carrying cameras around as well. I didn't really believe it was the smartest move, and we were just better off driving that police car. But, this is one of the most memorable movies of the year that audiences will hopefully walk out with a shining respect for our boys on the field. From two Oscar-worthy performances, great writing, and a heartbreaking final act, nobody should miss this movie! "End of Watch", in my review, "an entertaining cop drama, with pain-staking realism".