Pride and Glory

(2008)

Directed by

Gavin O’Connor

Review by Todd Plucknett

Gavin O’Connor’s Pride and Glory is a film that tackles elements that have been tackled several times in recent years. Rarely, however, is a police corruption film as gritty and truly honest as this one. It is a great little film, but it is definitely not for everyone.

The film centers on a multi-generational police family. There is Ray Tierney (Edward Norton), an honest police detective caught in the middle of a horrible situation because of his family ties. Francis Tierney (Oscar-winner Jon Voight) is Ray’s father, the New York police chief. His other son who shares the same name goes by Frannie (Noah Emmerich). He is the leader of a precinct of rough and corrupt precinct. One of the members of the precinct is Jimmy (Colin Farrell), the Tierney’s brother-in-law. He is a man of uncontrollable rage, even to the point of threatening a baby with an iron to get information out of a witness. These four men form the core of the film, and each one of their stories and characters bring something substantial to this very effective crime drama.

The film kicks off with a football scene during the opening credits. Jimmy is on the field, while his brothers-in-law are watching from the stands. While the team wins the game, something more significant is going on. At that same time, four of Frannie’s officers are getting killed in a drug raid. Those men were going after Angel Tezo (Ramon Rodriguez) on an order from Jimmy. Neither Frannie nor Ray knows anything about this, especially the Jimmy part and the true underlying gravity of the situation. This story evolves into the skeleton of the film. The dirty cops are going after Tezo for drug money and other personal reasons. Ray is trying to uncover the whole thing on his own, on suggestion from his father. Frannie is trying to maintain some order to his already unraveling precinct while his fiancée (Jennifer Ehle) is dying of cancer. Francis is trying to hold his family together. All these personalities and stories get thrust into high gear as the tension and suspense rise to a blistering level.

The film is written by O’Connor and Joe Carnahan. Carnahan previously wrote and directed Narc, an even better film with similar themes. His style and spirit are very evident here, with the impassioned characters with more to them than meets the eye. His screenplay is really one of the most fantastic qualities to this film. The acting is clearly the other exceptional quality. Norton plays his role incredibly well. He has set the standard for himself so high, and this Carnahan-written character perfectly suits him. He is able to display his always hypnotic rage, as well as some of his more vulnerable side that he displayed best in 25^th Hour. Voight does an excellent job in his best performance since Ali. He really played his drunken character with believability and played off Norton very effectively. Farrell was brilliant in his fiery role. With three acclaimed performances with year (the other ones being In Bruges and the failure Cassandra’s Dream), he reminds us all that he can act with the best of his generation. While he probably will not be nominated this year, he will get his due sooner or later…hopefully. He has deserved two nominations already, in my opinion. Emmerich gives his best performance here. He takes the excellent potential that he showed in Little Children and evolves it into a complete and totally essential character. Some of the best scenes were featuring him with Ehle, who gives a fabulous and heartbreaking performance as well. Some of the other smaller roles feature fine performances too, especially the one from John Ortiz. The acting here is all around quite flawless. Each principal character and some supporting characters all get their opportunity to shine in some intelligently-written and exhilarating scenes.

O’Connor’s direction is also a vital part to the completion of the film experience. He uses a very rough style that really brings out the best in the actors and creates an atmosphere that is just about impeccable. There is so much going on here. There is the main story with the Jimmy, Ray, Frannie, and Francis. There is the story with Jimmy’s partners. There is Frannie and his fiancée. There are other storylines going on with Ray. All of these are significantly interesting. Oh, and there is the case. That part may be the least interesting, and thus it is given a back seat at times in the film. That is one of the things that I liked most about this film. It is different from the normal movies of this police corruption genre. It is about the characters, not about the case. Normally the audience knows what is going to happen with the case, which is the undoing of many of those screenplays. In this film, however, the characters’ side stories and conflict between each other take the front stage and form an atmosphere that is nearly impossible to resist. O’Connor brings it all together with intelligence and proficiency.

What many will criticize about this film is that it falls into too many clichés. This film is actually almost vacant from normal crime drama clichés, which is where a lot of the appeal comes from. Anyway, call me a sucker for a cop movie or whatever, but this is one of the most interesting platforms for a film to take place on. Everything about police, corruption, moral decisions they have to make, all that is incredibly riveting to me, and it could almost never be overdone. Many are also criticizing the ending. I know exactly what they are referring to. All I have to say is: those two are basically brothers. That scene makes sense! Think about it! The final shots are also undeniably emotional and unforgettable. It is a film that the audience will likely be talking about after the film is over. There are some definite flaws, and it does not break a significant amount of new ground with the basic storyline, but there is so much more to this film. The positives easily outweigh the negatives. The acting is a reason to see it alone. Almost the entire film is touched by the brilliance of the screenplay, the splendid direction, and the performers. It is a film that should appeal to fans of the crime drama genre, fans of any of the main actors, and/or fans of a well-plotted and intelligent drama. It will not have a wide appeal though for obvious reasons. I hope Carnahan keeps it going with more screenplays like this, and I am interested to see where the virtual newcomer O’Connor goes from here. I hope this film gets the attention it deserves, after spending so long in the post production stage awaiting its release. It should be seen, and it should not have gotten such harsh treatment.

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