Pride and Glory Movie Review

PLOT
A saga centered on a multi-generational family of New York City Police officers. The family's moral codes are tested when Ray Tierney, investigates a case that reveals an incendiary police corruption scandal involving his own brother-in-law. For Ray, the truth is revelatory, a Pandora's Box that threatens to upend not only the Tierney legacy but the entire NYPD. (IMDB.com)

Critical Review
I will start by saying that I'm not sure that I entirely enjoyed this movie. There was a lot to take in from corrupted public officials, racism, foul language, and senseless death. Please don't get me wrong, I have nothing against a violent movies, but if there is violence it needs to be tasteless violence. This movie was a little over the top in that respect. I also wish that I would have counted how many times the "f-word" was used, however I don't think that I have the ability to count that high. I know that this is my opinion from afar, but I can't believe that this amount of foul language is actually used in anybodies everyday life. I may be wrong, but again when they are swearing so much that it begins to bother me, it's a little overboard.

Now that I got that off my chest we can get to the actual review of the movie. The acting in this film was spotty. Certain characters were very strong and their characters were well developed, while others never really seemed to grasp the audience. Edward Norton (Ray Tierny) was a very strong character and was very well represented by Norton. Ray Tierny was a very troubled and torn character who was working his way through a divorce while working as a detective on a case in which his very own family is knee deep in the corruption. Norton depicted this character wonderfully, which really engaged me into the story. Working against Norton's attempt to salvage this film was Colin Farrel and his character Jimmy Eagan. Farrel has no attractiveness as an actor for me. He always seems to be playing some sort of hard nosed,foul-mouthed police character, not very appealing to me. On top of that, I see Farrel as being this type of person in real life which does not impress me when I see him depict this type of character on the big screen.


The directing of this film did not really set the scene well. There were a handful of main characters who were not developed until an hour into the film. It was hard to follow the story when I am asking myself, "Now who is this guy?"


If I were to describe the plot of this movie to you as a family of corrupt police begins to unravel, you would probably say, "Haven't we seen this movie before?" Which would be an accurate assumption. However this plot is very deep and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I would even go as far as saying that the plot is the strongest part of this movie. I really did enjoy the story of this movie I just thought that it could be more tastefully done.