Bolstered by strong performances and written by Joe Carnahan ( the well-conceived “Narc,” the ill-conceived “Smokin’ Aces”), the grand irony of “Pride and Glory” is that much like those sworn to uphold the law, but fall astray, Gavin O’Connor’s cop drama also falls far from the good intentioned path it began on.
In the crime family drama’s auspicious intro, ‘Pride’ starts off lean and mean, full of economy and classical drama notes, it’s grittiness is straight out of early Sidney Lumet and is echoed by cop dramas like “Serpico.”
The camera and its no nonsense looks suggest grim cop realism and all it entails; the editing and pace is decisive and draws you in. A inter-police dept. football game is interrupted — four cops are killed in a drug bust gone bad. Hothead Colin Farrell weeps and rages for his men, his brother-in-law Ed Norton takes it all in with silent, broken-heartedness and his brother (a super-solid and understated Noah Emmerich in one of his more notable turns, and ultimately the most interesting actor in the film) barks orders trying to keep the chaos of a crime scene in order.
The Chief of detectives (a usually soused Jon Voight, who does play half in the bag rather well) assigns a taskforce to investigate what’s looking more like an ambush and pleads an old colleague – his son (Norton) to take the lead and a family cop dynasty emerges. But not without major resistance does he take the role, Norton’s self-clipped his wings from a prior incident turned sour, but his father guilts and implores him out of “retirement” (like Cedric in “The Wire” he’s wasting his time in some police district basement doing nothing terribly important).
Like riding a bike, Norton’s cop skills – full of a sensitivity and empathy that most NYPD are missing – are fully on display and the case quickly starts to come into focus. But the deeper Norton burrows, the closer he discover loose ends whose strings find their way back to Farrell and his commanding officer Emmerich (whose sub-story about a wife dealing with cancer is quite affecting).
This first 30-45 minutes is emotional, the performances rich and above par for average cop drama, but just as Farrell’s character begins to unravel as the hounds close in, the story begins to splinter under the weight of its heavy choices. Torn between family loyalty or departmental loyalty? It all begins to smell way too familiar and far worse than formulaic, it veers wildly off course in its attempts to climax and rev up the tension.
At some point a director needs to know when to pull back from the script. Case in point: When Farrell goes apeshit on an informant, it goes way over the line. What NYPD member gets away with bursting in on Christmas dinner, punching out a mother holding a baby and then threatening to disfigure a newborn with a scalding hot iron while firing bullets around a room at a terrified group of grandmothers and kids? (The audience gasped in horror and there were groans. This was the tipping point…)
As time progresses, ‘Pride’ wears out its welcome and loses the plot in ridiculous scenes that are pure and ghastly melodrama. An Irish barroom brawl between Farrell and Norton instead of an arrest is just silly and then Farrell’s about-face sacrifice to a mob gang of Latinos out for blood because of police injustice is just scoff-worthy, implausible and the moment when you’re counting down the minutes til you’re outside in fresh air.
“Pride and Glory”s tragic tale of family bonds and loyalty has some difficult and truthful moments that test bonds of any relations, but instead of the Greek tragedy it aims for, Gavin O’Connor’s becomes bogged down by over-the-top and unbelievable redemption and just simply can’t meet those heights.
What commences as blood-is-thicker bonds and morale codes of justice soon devolves into a by-the-numbers groaner that goes way over the line more than a few times with more than a few Irish-American cliches (thankfully we’re spared with the music for the most part). If “Seven” was known as the “head in the box” movie. Will ‘Pride’ be known as the film where “Colin Farrell almost puts a hot iron to a baby’s face”? ( it was like five tokes over the line, yeah, we got the point this guy is scum).
“Glory” does do one public service announcement for us. We’d actually never heard rapper/poet Sage Francis before and after hearing “Waterline” in the film’s closing credits, we never want to. [C-]
