Broken City: Where Did It Go Wrong? | People's Critic: Film Reviews ...

********SPOILER ALERT****************************

This review contains spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Broken City is a movie that left me with more questions than I had answers for. A film that would make a better HBO?miniseries?than a movie. A film that could also make a compelling short film. Either way, we?re stuck with 109 exhausting minutes. ?Let?s try a little Q&A review to see if we can solve some of the film?s problems.

Who?s in involved in the movie?

For starters, it?s directed by Allen Hughes ? ? of the Hughes Brothers directing team (Menace II Society, Dead Presidents, The Book of Eli), written by Brian Tucker and stars Mark Wahlberg as Billy Taggart, Russell Crowe as Mayor Hostetler), Catherin Zeta Jones as Cathleen Hostetler, Barry Pepper as Jack Valliant, Jeffrey Wright as Fairbanks, Coach Tay?.I mean Kyle Chandler as Paul Andrews, and Natalie Martinez as Natalie Barrow.

What exactly is Broken City about?

Billy Taggart ? ex New York police offer turned private investigator ? gets a call from his old pal Mayor Hostetler. Hostetler believes his wife is having an affair, so he hires Taggart to follow her around. Taggart finds out his wife is having an affair with a man named Paul Andrews. After Taggart tells Hostetler that Andrews is indeed the man in the photos with his wife, Andrews is found dead in the street. Taggart suspects Hostetler is behind the murder and there may be more to this murder than just an affair.

What?s the twist?

The twist is Paul Andrews is the campaign manager for Jack Valliant, Hostetler?s opponent in the Mayoral race. Andrews was working with Cathleen Hostetler, the Mayor?s wife, on a big deal to help put her husband away for good. Oh, and she wasn?t having an affair with Andrews, he was just her really good friend. The secret meetings with Andrews were to pass information ? the film also hints at Andrews and Valliant?s relationship being much closer than campaign manager and candidate when after Andrew?s death, Valliant spits out some quote about it being unpopular to say he loved him or be with him.

What?s wrong with the film?

How much time do you have? The first word that came to mind after the movie finished was ?exhausting?. Broken City is a slow painful build up to absolutely nothing. The film has a nice opening that gives Taggart a gritty back story, but ultimately that storyline turns into a pointless plot device at the end. The film transitions into Taggart?s life, and that?s about as interesting as watching someone rake leaves. The film biggest problem is the plot twist being a real estate deal that involves evil suits kicking out poor people and turning their low income housing into millions. The plot makes no attempts to be original. It?s a shallow version of film?s we?ve seen in the past.

There?s also about 6-7 scenes that could?ve easily been cut out or combined with another scene. Movies should never feel long, and Broken City feels entirely too long.

What was the worst part?

There were a few scenes: One involved Taggard drowning Valliant to get information out of him. It was completely unprovoked and unnecessary. Why was he drowning him? What was wrong with Valliant? Is every film required to have a water torture scene? There?s also Natalie, Taggard?s girlfriend, whose entire presence in the film isn?t necessary. Natalie, her independent film, and hipster director could?ve stayed on the cutting room floor.

The worst part has to be the sequence when Taggard can?t deal with his wife having a passionate love scene in her small indie film. After being sober for seven years, the love scene situation drives him to drink (absolutely ridiculous), and that leads to a big fight between him and Natalie. As if the insane premise for his drinking/fight wasn?t enough, the scene is followed by a montage of Taggard going on a drinking binge, fighting some unknown person on the street, drinking some more, and throwing his bottle against a passing car. The entire thing ends with Taggard stumbling into the subway drunk and receiving a phone call. ?The very next scene is Taggard, now completely sober, at a crime scene. Seriously? He goes from Frank the Tank to Det. Stabler in a matter of minutes.

Taggard goes on to drink for the rest of the film without one single incident. Nothing. The subject of his sobriety isn?t even brought up again. Ridiculous!

What was good about Broken City?

The chemistry between Mark Wahlberg and his assistant played by Alona Tal is really good and somewhat interesting. The political banter between Kyle Chandler and Barry Pepper was good too, but they?re only in one scene together. There?s also the beautiful Natalie Martinez, who plays Taggard?s girlfriend. Even her beautiful smile wasn?t enough to save the movie.

Who would you recommend the movie too?

People who love Mark Wahlberg and enjoy seeing him fight people twice his size.

Grade: D

Source: http://blog.seattlepi.com/peoplescritic/2013/01/17/broken-city-where-did-it-go-wrong/

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