WE OWN THE NIGHT-2007-3 STARS

23. March 2008 by Ria.

Mark Wahlberg takes third billing in this movie, which means I immediately have to take off 1 star for that. I mean, who is the Joaquin Phoenix guy compared to Wahlberg? Let’s see the dossier on this Phoenix guy. Okay, brother was the late River Phoenix, hmmm……..let’s see what else……….he was in Walk the Line, The Village, and To Die For. Well, I haven’t seen any of those movies, so I guess they really weren’t that important.

Joaquin stars as Loser Bobby Green who runs a nightclub for hoodlum drug dealer Marat Buzhayev (Moni Moshonov). In his spare time (and he seems to have a lot of that) he messes around with girlfriend Amada (Eva Mendes). I’m telling you, Bobby leads an exciting life, let me just run off to you a typical day in Bobby’s world.

Wake up, take shower (maybe), heavy smoochin’ with girlfriend, snort coke, go to the club, snort coke, gamble with buddies, snort coke, throw wild parties, snort coke, hang out with hoodlum drug dealers, snort coke…..See, this guy’s got it made in the shade, for those of you who are into that kind of stuff.

Now in comes my hero, Joseph Grusinsky (Wahlberg, of course), and Police Daddy Grusinsky (Robert Duvall), wait, back up a second. Robert Duvall is still around? Damn, how old is that guy, 100? Well whatever, “Keep it up Pops”, that’s all I have to say. Joseph was just promoted to head up the Narcotics Division, and the first person he’s going after, Vadim, a relative of Marat, who hangs around the club a lot.

Now since Bobby knows these guys, Joseph wants him to be a first class snitch, but Bobby says, “No Way!” After all, why should he give up living in the fast lane just to be a stoolie for his brother and father? Oh, I forgot to tell you, Bobby uses his mother’s maiden name (Green) so that his loser buddies won’t know he’s related to cops. Well, whatever. Bobby won’t snitch, but Joseph gets his revenge by raiding the club, and arresting Bobby.

Dad gets him out, then the two brothers go at it, first a war of words, then fists start flying. Bobby calls Joseph’s wife a fat ass, what? How dare you call her that! She might be dumpy looking, but she’s no fat ass! Anyway, Joseph leaves, Vadim does a drive by, and shoots him. What? You mean to tell me my man Joseph is gonna be out of action for a while? How long, 30 minutes?

Okay, I have to take off another star, just for security until he gets back into the movie. What? Don’t you need a deposit to rent an apartment, or a car, until you give it back? Well, same thing here! Now after Bobby finds out about his brother being shot, his whole demeanor changes from this point on. No more cracking jokes, or coking it up with the boys. No more drug parties, and flipping people off.  He wants to help catch Vadim, so he goes turns informant, and leads the cops to a new stash house Vadim is running.

Okay, now we’ve got some good action here, Vadim finds Bobby’s wire in a lighter, cops barge in, and there’s a major shootout, SWAT team goes nuts, and tries to cap off anything moving, including Bobby, who jumps out of window to escape the mess. Okay, good scene, I’ll give 1/2 star back.

Bobby and girlfriend Amada have police protection now, at least until he testifies against Vadim, which should be in a couple of months. Damn, 2 months staying at the Cue Motor Inn, what a drag. However, the police allow them to attend Joseph’s welcome home party. He’s back! Okay, now I can restore another 1/2 star, all right! So the two brothers and dad talk, and I’m not gonna get into what they were saying, because I don’t feel like it. Trust me, if it was important, I’d let you know.

Anyway, lets skip that, and get to the scene where Joseph finds out that Vadim escaped the hospital, he was taken there for having (faking that is ) chest pains, so now, Bobby, and Amada have to be moved to another hotel, a suite at the Sheraton. What? Are you kidding me?

“Now Bobby, when you get there, make sure to take all towels, soaps, and bed spreads on your last day, Okay? Oh, and don’t forget to call for room service every four hours, the police department is flipping the bill, right?” So Bobby and Amada get a police escort to move them to the Sheraton, but some good that does, because Vadmin finds them and starts a high speed shootout in the rain, taking out Daddy Grusinsky along the way.

Damn. Brother gets shot, now Dad’s dead, “What are you gonna do now Bobby?”  Well he decides that he now would like to be a police officer, and Amada wigs out. “Amada, what’s wrong with you? You believe that if he becomes a cop, you won’t be able to get any more drugs? Stupid girl, don’t you know, no one has access to drugs like a cop?”

“All he has to do is arrest a petty drug dealer, take his drugs, and money, turn him/her loose, and bring the stuff back to you, and it’s party time as usual. It happens day in, and day out, didn’t you know that? If he gets promoted to the Narcotics Division, then you’ve really lucked out, and in no time at all you could end up being some rich junkie wife of a cop who’s also a junkie, now how does that sound?”

Okay, one more paragraph, and that’s it! Cops find out there’s a Russian shipment coming in, and Bobby is appointed a conditional member of the police force, but he still has to go through the academy, in order to be a legitimate cop (whatever that means). Bottom line, Bobby goes in, arrests Marat, and takes out Vadim, and when its all said and done, he becomes a cop himself. Way to go Bobby! You just traded in one group of thugs for the other, good job!

We Own the Night

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