End of Watch

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End of Watch-480P

Most cop movies live or die by the chemistry between the leads. End of Watch features excellent chemistry between Gyllenhaal and Pena, which elevates the film a notch above the typical cop drama. The found-footage style of filmmaking works pretty well for police movies in that it adds a grittiness necessary to realistically represent the story. There are plenty of tense moments and thrilling sequences to satisfy any action junkie, but the moments focusing on the characters and their lives is where End of Watch shines. The point of this film is to portray a realistic life as a police officer in the LA ghetto and the film definitely succeeds in that regard.

Shot in a quasi-documentary style with the (unsuccessful) aim of increasing the gritty realism the film relies upon for gravitas, writer-director David Ayer instead should've put more effort into crafting a story that doesn't depend on genre clichés and character stereotypes so frequently. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena share a naturalistic chemistry as the brothers in blue – their abuse-slinging conversations whilst patrolling the streets are often both funny and touching – however they are constantly fighting an uphill battle against cartoonish criminals, outlandish plot contrivances and Ayer's occasionally over-the-top dialogue. And for the love of cinematic common sense, I wish filmmakers would treat baddies brandishing AK47s with more respect; they aren't that bad at hitting a target 20 metres away, especially when there are four of them. A frustrating crime pic that never reaches its potential.

Two LADP cops film their day to day lives while driving through their precinct, responding to calls and busting down crime scenes. LA thugs soon catch up on the filming project and also start recording their daily routine, not with their phones but with giant video cameras you may remember from the nineties. The result of all this nonsense is two hours of irritating shaky camera-work, earbleedingly dumb conversation, severed limbs in every house that is entered and irrelevant scene upon scene of the cops' personal lives in between duty shifts. The film goes out of its way to make the viewer thoroughly apathetic to the events that are unfolding and the idiotic characters on display. Though I'm sure the movie aimed for the exact opposite, one can't possibly take any of it seriously. 3/10

I really don't understand people who rate this movie so high. First of all, there is no storyline here. It's all about two cops who are going after drug dealers and because they didn't have enough experience get hurt by the end. Absolutely boring. I don't remember any dialog that is worth while. Acting was average because of the shallow script. Directing was terrible. It's like cop Blair Witch Project with that shaky cam and we've already seen this kind of directing in so many movies before. If you expected to see a good cop movie like Colors, Training Day, Narc, Harsh Times etc. you will be disappointed. Even movies like Dark Blue, Cop Land, Brooklyn's Finest, Internal Affairs etc. are better than this. Really, nothing memorable exists here except high rating on IMDb and I hope it's gonna change soon 'cause it doesn't deserve it.

I intend to write reviews of movies where my opinion goes against the majority opinion. Unfortunately I usually see movies either in 2nd run theaters or on TV, which is okay if the movies are over a year old or classic films, but is generally too late to matter when it is new movies. But I'm putting my two cents in on this film. This flick received generally good reviews from both the public, and critics. I'm not sure I was watching the same movie as everyone else. First, the hand-held camera gambit was annoying. I know that the thought was for it to add an artistic element, but it was just plain perturbing. It reminded me of my father taking home movies back in the day. A lot of the "action" scenes were just fast-moving, indiscernible images, as though the camera were being flipped and spun around like a football. If not for the audio I would not have had a clue as to what was going on. Also, everything was too dark, meaning that there was a need for more daylight scenes. And it looked like scenes were spliced together ad hoc. Maybe that was part of the alleged "artistry" attempt in the movie. Some of the scenes of the evil Mexican gang were almost funny in their absurdity. There was one scene where the Mexican outlaws were riding in a van and shouting angry, obscenity-laced threats at each other in a thick Hispanic accent. I leaned over and asked my co-viewer sitting next to me what they were yelling about and she shrugged her shoulders and then whispered to me that she thought they were debating the scientific possibilities of inter-galactic travel. It was the high point of the movie. I'm not sure how anyone could care about the two main characters. Any attempt they made to show some personal depth and heartfelt emotion came off as either false, or aggravatingly macho. Just not good. When everyone, good guys and bad guys alike, were apparently killed in one scene near the end, I felt a relief that the bewildering and/or poorly drawn characters were gone and I would soon be in my car going home. I have seen a lot of movies in my day and this one may not be the worst, but it is probably in the bottom 20%.

Unlike many of the current crop of macho cop dramas, End of Watch plays mainly to the grit of the daily challenges of patrolling the mean streets of South Central LA in the "Shootin' Newton" division. Unlike the stunning LA Confidential, with a historical story line, End of Watch is done in the cinema ver'ite' style - in a realistic real cops on duty in the LA war zone frame. The casting in this movie is picture perfect, with each actor giving in depth performances.The story line brings the Mexican / US drug problem into crystal clarity. Initially, the story fails to coalesce, and the video cam work is a bit disjointed and over done at the outset, but once you settle in to cinematic method, the film gets a hold on you. Definitely a movie for any law enforcement aficionados collection.

I had high expectations for this movie, and was severely let down. The letdown came from a number of small things rather than one big one. While I accepted the story line of tough inner city cops working tough neighborhoods, I found the use of hand-held cameras to show uncommon angles to be an unnecessary distraction. So was the constant referencing of Anna Kendrick's cleavage in almost every shot she was in. But the biggest letdown in this movie was the generic nature of the battle between law enforcement and the human traffickers they fought against. The coyote types were one dimensional characters only - cold and angry all the time. We never really are told why they hate the police so much, other than that the police are obstacles to their business. But the human element was missing. The other letdown was the portrayal of the disconnect between the LAPD, a local agency, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal agency. We aren't given enough content about their lack of information sharing, and the plot too easily glosses over ICE's not sharing potentially life saving information with the LAPD. The one bright spot in the movie was the acting by Jake Gyllenhaal. He was very convincing as a hard charging, bend-the-rules street cop. But this movie could have been so much more, end evoked more empathy from its audience, had the script been better refined.

This movie was one of the most mangled pieces of garbage I think I have ever seen. I actually almost wish that I was speaking in hyperbole. I was so insanely bored by "found footage" of some loser cop's college class project that I would rather have watched a documentary on the history of drinking straws. The movie is basically about two cops that do nothing but goof around, break protocol, and act like the low-lifes that they are trying to uproot. Not only is half of the movie unrealistic, such as ignoring a government agent's orders to leave the gang that they are dealing with alone, buts it is saturated with stereotypes that are hyperbolas themselves. The "gangsters" in this film talk like they are actors in a porno. Almost every line of dialogue that they utter is laced with f-bombs. Don't get me wrong cussing happens a lot in many people's lives and occupations, but to the point where literally every other word is f**k is annoying. There is a particular seen where some of the gang-bangers are talking about killing the cops and it sounds somewhat like this, "Dude, F, we are f-ing gonna f these f-ers up f-ing forever f-ing even f-ing if we have to f-ing f those f-ers 'til they're f-ed so much that f-ing their f-ing mom will be f-ing skull f-ing them to f-ing bring their f-ing f's back to f-ing life. F bro. I'm f-ing serious. F. F. F I F-ing love you." And this kind of dialogue happens at least three times for what seems like 10 minutes each scene. The fact that the gangsters are filming themselves is one of the dumbest things because most of the recordings are of them talking about committing crimes and killing the cops. I'd love to see the court case after the fact where 300 hours of incriminating footage had been recovered as evidence to put these idiots down. That might almost make a better movie than this one. Then there is the other stuff that all the other bad reviews have mentioned. The acting is terrible. And no I do not believe that Gyllenhal and Pena saved this movie. It is the worst film that either of them has been in. Also many of the reviewers are right; these cops would have died horrible deaths with as many bullets that were supposedly being shot at them. The fact that cops would be portrayed like this, even though I hate cops, it is disrespectful to all who serve for the police forces in America. I can't even think of any redeeming qualities for this film. If I could I would give it a zero. The only part of the film where I may have smiled in joy is when one of these loser cops kicks the bucket but then they ruin the movie again by letting his partner live and sob into his chest. I'm actually surprised he didn't kiss him goodbye. My movie theatre has a "no refund policy" and therefore I sat and kept praying the movie would somehow get better or at least just end. It is really sad that stuff like this can get released in theatres, get good reviews, and steal my money all in one day. I've practically stopped seeing movies for the first two weeks because that's how long you usually have to wait for the honest reviews to emerge.