NIKKI says:What the hell happened? It was like I started out watching a movie about brothers and loyalties and drugs in 1980s New York and then suddenly I found myself in the middle of some strange testimonial to the goodness of cops.
I just don't know what to think of this. The first third of the film was interesting and reasonably engrossing, and then suddenly Joaquin becomes a cop, and it's all -- yes, you can help us with this case and just join the academy later. What? Is that really how it happens, that the son of a decorated officer can simply take and exam and join the force in the middle of a case he is peripherally related to? Far-fetched? Then again, it was the '80s.
In the end, I really felt very little for these characters. I understand what I was supposed to feel -- brothers trapped by family loyalty and their chosen directions in life. Still, I find it very hard to believe that the Russian mafia men hadn't researched Joaquin's character enough to find out who his family was -- he didn't appear to be outwardly hiding anything. Convoluted, maybe? That might be the pervading feeling here.
I did enjoy, however, the relationship between Joaquin and Eva Mendes -- I thought they were developed well, and were quite believable. Still, that wasn't enough to keep me interested. Cardboard characters, typical plot turns (the mafioso father figure turns on Joaquin just as his actual father takes a hit), a horribly flawed ending. It's been compared to The Departed, but it comes nowhere close.
2/5
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