End Of Watch

Prior to this outing, the last four films coming from David Ayer’s pen (or, I suppose, keyboard) were Harsh Times, SWAT, Dark Blue and Training Day. Therefore you’ll be unsurprised to hear that End Of Watch doesn’t concern the length of strapping on a particularly fancy Rolex. Having said that though, there is some serious bling on show in this film as its backdrop is the mean gangster ridden street of South Central Los Angeles. What we have is a quasi-documentary following two young police officers (Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña) as they go about their daily routine. Well, I say routine, but in reality what we see is some serious grind as the duo are routinely abused and shot at as they go about their job. Not that they’re angels themselves mind. They step over the line themselves on occasions, though Ayer’s script is at pains to point out it’s all done in order to bring justice to those that the officers feel deserve it. Basically the best way to describe them is to imagine Nic Cage’s Bad Lieutenant as a copper on the beat before he moved up the ladder and took the craziness to a higher stage. Speaking of Werner Herzog’s film, that had some delicious black comedy to counter balance the dark moments, but this is pretty grim all the way through. Murders and violence occur at whim, children are duct taped and put in cupboards, a human trafficking ring is exposed and at one stage the duo discover a house that has so many body parts in it, it resembles something from The Hills Have Eyes. Despite the subject matter this is a very good film. It’s certainly not for everyone, especially on the language front which contains a somewhat silly 326 f-words alone. In addition, Ayer (also directing), fumbles it slightly on the documentary style as it soon segues into a mixture of found footage and normal operating camera’s which, to be a bit pedantic, isn’t actually possible. The acting and chemistry between Gyllenhaal and Peña is great (no doubt the result of Ayer’s insistence of five months following and training with the real LAPD) which is crucial as other characters are either just cut and paste sweary mean gang members or kept mainly on the sidelines (female characters, one a love interest of Gyllenhaal played by Anna Kendrick, barely register). Most impressive of all is that from Ayer typing the first word of the script to the finish of post-production, this was completed in a barely believable 13 months. Usually when films are finished at that pace the negatives of rushing it stick out like a sore thumb. Here though it’s all pretty much solid all the way through aided by Ayer’s pacey direction and Roman Vasyanov’s stunning cinematography.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Formulaic in plot, but the energy of Ayer’s direction and some sharp editing will keep you enthralled all the way through. Rating: 8/10.