Cine - Pride and Glory
We’ve seen this movie countless times. A run-of-the-mill corrupt cop drama that carries on in the same traditions of NYPD blue’s finest, violence, greed, dishonor, pride, and glory of wearing the badge. However, despite the cliché, director Gavin O’Connor’s film, Pride and Glory, dodges the bullet and hits its target with fully developed characters and a robust plot.
The Tierney family is a multi-generational clan of three New York City Police officers. Headed by former police chief Francis, played by actor Jon Voight, his sons Ray (Edward Norton), Francis Jr. (Noah Emmerich) and his son-in-law Jimmy Egan (Colin Farrell), the family is struck by tragedy when four cops in Fran Jr.’s division are killed in a brutal shootout. Eager to discover what went wrong and why, a task force is assembled to investigate the carnage, and Ray, whose personal demons had him on the sidelines, reluctantly finds himself thrust into the fray. When Ray’s intellect and intuition lead him to discover that Jimmy is part of an incendiary police corruption scandal, his morals are tested and the truth puts the good Tierney legacy in jeopardy, threatening to upend the entire NYPD.
Norton is great as the angry, conflicted Ray. He’s a bastion of sanity, and his outrage is convincing. Colin Farrell is brilliant as a remorseless bad guy, who began bending the rules just to get the job done, but slowly fell victim to lust, greed and corruption. He brings down the house in one scene with actor Rick Gonzalez (Illegal Tender) starring as Eladio Casado. Actors John Ortiz (Miami Vice) playing Ruben Santiago and Manny Perez (El Cantante) as Coco Dominguez, performances are exceptional amongst the allstar cast.
Pride and Glory is at times brutally vicious (with a scene threatening the scalding of a baby), and remarkably cliché with cops speaking in broken down Brooklyn accents, but the cop drama isn’t over the top. Comparable to Academy Award Winning thriller, The Departed, O’Connor’s film possibly could deem even better because of its many twists, turns and things left unsaid.
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