We Own the Night (2007)

A New York nightclub manager tries to save his brother and father from Russian mafia hit men.

Director:

James Gray

Writer:

James Gray

Stars:

Joaquin Phoenix, Eva Mendes, Danny Hoch

5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joaquin Phoenix	...	Bobby Green
Eva Mendes	...	Amada Juarez
Danny Hoch	...	Jumbo Falsetti
Alex Veadov	...	Vadim Nezhinski
Oleg Taktarov	...	Pavel Lubyarsky
Dominic Colon	...	Freddie
Joe D'Onofrio	...	Bloodied Patron
Elena Solovey	...	Kalina Buzhayev
Moni Moshonov	...	Marat Buzhayev
Mark Wahlberg	...	Joseph Grusinsky
Maggie Kiley	...	Sandra Grusinsky
Paul Herman	...	Spiro Giavannis
Robert Duvall	...	Burt Grusinsky
Antoni Corone	...	Michael Solo
Craig Walker	...	Russell De Keifer

Storyline

Brooklyn, 1988. Crime is rife, especially drugs and drug violence. A Russian thug is building his heroin trade, while everyone laughs at the cops. Brothers have chosen different paths: Joe has followed his father Bert into New York's Finest; he's a rising star. Bobby, who uses his mother's maiden name, manages a club. Bobby too is on the rise: he has a new girlfriend and a green-light to develop a Manhattan club. Joe and Bert ask him to help with intelligence gathering; he declines. Then, Joe raids Bobby's club to arrest the Russian. From there, things spiral out of control: the Russian puts out a hit on Joe, personal losses mount, and Bobby's loyalties face the test.

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Plot Keywords:

drugs | nightclub | russian mafia | loyalty | heroin | 

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Taglines:

One family on opposite sides of the law... Two brothers about to collide.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, drug material, language, some sexual content and brief nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [France] Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

12 October 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

La nuit nous appartient

Filming Locations:

Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$21,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£441,416 (UK) (14 December 2007)

Gross:

£1,756,957 (UK) (11 January 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, 2929 Productions, Industry Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The car chase scene has been shot on an entirely sunny day and the rain had been put in digitally later.

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Goofs

A poster shown in the background of several squad room scenes shows the NYPD's top four CURRENT medals (Medal of Honor, Combat Cross, Medal of Valor, and Purple Shield). The Purple Shield award was not created until 1995. This is obviously a modern day NYPD poster.

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Quotes

Joseph Grusinsky: Why don't you go back to your little Puerto Rican girlfriend?
Bobby Green: I will go back to my fucking Puerto Rican girlfriend!
Joseph Grusinsky: Yeah?
Bobby Green: Yeah, you keep thinking about my girlfriend while you're fucking your fat fucking wife!
Joseph Grusinsky: You motherfucker!
[darts for Bobby]
Bobby Green: Get the fuck off of me! You motherfucker!
Joseph Grusinsky: Get off of me! You motherfucker.
[is taken off of Bobby]
Joseph Grusinsky: I'm done with you!
[...]

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Connections

References Lost Highway (1997)

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Soundtracks

"Ural Rowan-Tree"
Written by E. Rodygin & N. Pilipenko
Performed by State Ural Folk Choir
Courtesy of Melodiya

User Reviews

Routine and overlong cop drama.

"We Own the night" is the story of Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix), a nightclub manager who has chosen a life of partying, drugs and gambling which is in stark contrast to his police captain brother (Mark Wahlberg) and police chief father (Robert Duvall). As the film progresses, Bobby is forced to choose between staying loyal to his drug dealing Boss or siding with his family.

The greatest problem with this film is that its been done so many times before and with much better results. "Mean Streets" (1973), "The Departed" (2006) to name but a few. Director James Gray is obviously trying to do a Scorsese type feature here but it falls far short of expectations.

Joaquin Phoenix mumbles his way through the story with a one note performance and shows that he isn't capable of being a credible lead. The change his character goes through is implausible and Phoenix never gives you any reason to believe the metamorphosis as he doesn't act any differently through the whole process. The Script gives Robert Duvall (one of my favourite actors) little to do other than get angry at someone or something whenever he's on screen and Mark Wahlberg underplays his part so much that he's actually boring. The stunning Eva Mendes doesn't seem to do anything significant other than get groped in the opening scene by Phoenix. After that she seems to be there to provide the "eye candy" only.

The script is fairly weak and the plot does not justify the running time, 30 minutes less could easily have been achieved. There are also many situations that the characters get themselves into which no sensible adult would allow themselves to. This really stretches credibility and suspension of disbelief. Also, you'll particularly enjoy how inept the Hit-men are in this film ! The final showdown itself feels contrived and unexciting which caps off an uneven and somewhat thrown together production. I don't understand the rapturous applause that other reviewers have given this film, its been done so much better elsewhere.

"We own the night" is a misfire in my opinion.