Believe it or not, I was one of the few people somewhat looking forward to Broken City. It had a very talented cast, including Russell Crowe in a villain type role, and a interesting plot even if it's not one we haven't seen before. And the trailer looked really cool and suspenseful. So to me it had all of the potential for a great or at least a good thriller, the only negative aspect was the January release, which we all know can be a bad sign, but hollywood I feel has put out better movies in January in the last two years. So does Broken City live up to its full potential and better than your average January movies? Eh no. Is it a terrible movie? Definitely not, but it is exactly your typical January movie: Cliched, generic, and very poor scripted. You can predict the freaking ending from the trailers. But there are some pluses to it.
For one, the performances here are all really solid for the most part and they all really fit their roles. Russell Crowe is a lot of fun as the shady Mayor of NYC, and does a decent job in my opinion with the New York accent. It's a different role than he usually plays, you can definitely tell he's having fun playing the character, and he's overall probably the best thing about the movie. Unfortunately his character just isn't all that well written which definitely fits this entire movie. Mark Wahlberg definitely gives a decent performance with weak material he's given, and he definitely fits the role well, but it's basically the same role he's always playing. I really like the supporting cast that includes Jeffrey Wright, Kyle Chandler, and Barry Pepper, they all give good performances, and some even bring some decent comic relief. Catherine Zeta-Jones on the other hand is completely wasted and her role almost feels like a cameo which is a shame because the trailers make it seem like she has a huge part in the movie, but watching the film it doesn't seem like that at all. I mean she plays overall an important part to the story, but she's so underdeveloped and she has probably like four scenes total and her scenes don't even seem like three minutes. It almost felt like she didn't even need to be in this movie, her only purpose was to look good, which as a guy I can admit she definitely does look good, but you can really put any talented, and attractive actress in that role. And everyone else in the movie they do an okay job, but none of them are worth talking about.
As for other positives I can give this movie is that it is well directed for the most part. Director Allen Hughes definitely gives the movie a nice look and feel to it, it's well shot and I love all the setting they use for New York City. They're are some decent action scenes here and there which really surprised me, and there's a fun chase sequence towards the middle act of the movie. And for the most part I was never really bored with this movie like I wasn't sitting there like "oh my god this is soooo boring, I want to leave." So it had entertaining factors to it for sure. But, yeah that's about it for positives.
This really could have been a good movie, it really could have been, there's lots of potential in this movie. But the script for this movie is just so poorly written, everything about it just falls so flat and it's so one note. And some of the dialogue in this movie is just so laughable, and what makes it even worse is the movie tries to make it seem so clever, but it's not and most of the attempt of humor just falls flat and doesn't work. And the trailers make it seem like the movie is going to be full of twist and turns, which I'm all for, and you would think with this cast behind it, you'll get a suspenseful edgy type thriller. But, it's not like that at all, everything's predictable, you've seen this before in other movies, and it all feels generic. I honestly think this movie felt really safe, and not edgy enough, like everything was too simple, and I was never asking myself questions because I knew exactly how everything was going to turn out. There's also some subplots in the movie that feel completely useless. Like there's this relationship between Mark Wahlberg and his girlfriend and how she's an actress and is getting her first big role, and this story honestly goes absoutely no where. I was constantly asking myself why was the girlfriend in the movie like what purprose does she and her lazy storyline have to do with the overall movie. It's 15 mintues of screentime basically that could have been given to more intereactions between Crowe and Wahlberg, and more development to Zeta Jones's character. She was good looking that's the one plus I'll give that storyline. There's also another storyline between Wahlberg and his good looking female assistant, which also goes nowhere. And the pacing for this movie is a bit off, like I was actually really enjoying the first half of this movie because it was moving along really well, and very interesting, but than it completely loses steam in the second act where it becomes even more generic than it already was which really disappointed me. And what also really disappointed me about this movie was the way it concluded which felt so anti-climatic especially right after it had a good build-up to it. The movie just ends, and the ending just felt so cheap. Like that's it? Exactly what I was thinking after it ended. Goes back to what I was saying on how the movie wasn't edgy or suspenseful enough.
So all in all, Broken City is a very disappointing movie. It's not awful, or terrible I'd say, but it doesn't deliver any of the potential that it has to be a great thriller considering the talented cast behind it. It's definitely your typical January movie that is cliched, generic, and just very forgettable and average. By a few weeks from now, I can assure you no one will remember this movie. It's entertaining for the most part, but the script is so poorly written, the characters are all one-note, everything is predictable, and a lot of the actors in this movie aren't used to their full potential. Heck even Russell Crowe, is underdeveloped as the antagonist of this movie, and it feels like there's like a 20-25 mintue at least portion in the movie where he doesn't show up at all. Again it's not a terrible movie, but it's really not a good one either. If you're a fan of the cast maybe check out the matinee, but I think this movie will work best as a rental for sure. Welcome back mediocre January movies. I'll give Broken City a C+ (2.5/5)!
FINAL RATING: C+, 5/10
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