Broken City: Blu-ray Review
The Movie:
Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) is an ex-New York City cop turned private investigator the gets hired by Mayor Hostetler (Russell Crowe) to tail his wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and try to uncover her infidelity. Taggart soon gets thrown into the middle of a web of lies, corruption and he becomes nothing more than a piece to a much bigger puzzle.
Director Allen Hughes has put together a film that is reminiscent of old school film noir. I truly loved the plot to this flick. Even though it was somewhat predictable in spots it really did have everything that a crime film should have: The corrupt political figure, a man with a troubled past looking for redemption and double crosses. I think the most intriguing part of the film was all the grey area that the film treads. You don’t really get a full feel that anyone is good or bad. You don’t really see something like that very often. Wahlberg fit this character perfectly and brought his tough guy style that we all know to the role. Taggart has a damaged past but Wahlberg plays him with such vulnerability that makes the character likable. Kyle Chandler is fantastic in the scenes he was in. He was only in a handful of scenes but he made an impact and was an integral part of the film even when he wasn’t present. Phenomenal performances also came from Crowe and Zeta-Jones. The chemistry those two had together is something that happens all the time. They individually championed their roles but when on screen together they were just so crazy good. They looks they gave each other and the way they played off of each other could only be described as a psycho love/hate relationship. This wasn’t one of my favorite crime dramas but it was very entertaining. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Special Features:
Deleted Scenes – A few pretty good ones including a blooper type extended phone call between Taggart and a client and also an alternate ending.
Putting It Together – These are the featurettes that I love (besides blooper reels). This was a good, lengthy (almost 40min.) documentary on the making of the film and had some cast and crew interviews. This went into pretty good detail on the film making process and why the writer and director made certain decisions.
Broken City is available NOW on Blu-ray and DVD from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
