End of Watch

Okay, I'm just going to put it out there from the get go, I am no fan of the police. There, I said it. That being said, if there were more cops like Jake Gyllenhaal's Brian Taylor and Micheal Pena's Mike Zavala then maybe I'd like cops more. Hands down, End of Watch, directed and written by David Ayer is the best buddy cop film...EVER! David Ayer creates two characters that seemingly genuinely love each other like brothers and they love their job. They aren't gung ho cowboys out to solve every crime but they are in it to win it when they get "in" it. This movie is also filmed in a way that allows you to see how Brian and Mike interact on a daily basis. Brian is taking a film class and chooses to document his days in a squad car for his final exam which is a brilliant way to get the behind the scenes look at cops with their guard down.

David Ayers wrote Training Day which won Denzel Washing his second Oscar. There won't be any Oscar winning going on here but you will laugh and quite possibly cry while watching this film. I doubt you'd walk out of the theater feeling indifferent about Watch. The story is told over about two years and throughout that time Mike takes off his badge and his gun and has a fist fight in the house of a gang member, they play practical jokes on each other and their fellow cops, discover stash houses, roust house parties, and get in really bad with the Sinaloa Cartel out of Mexico. They get in so deep on the cartels shit list that a price is put on their heads.

Also during this time, Mike and his beautiful wife Gabby played by Natalie Martinez have a child and Brian meets and eventually marries Janet played by the Oscar nominated Anna Kendrick. It all gets tripped up when Brian wants to check out a house in their precinct. Mike wants no parts of it but Brian convinces and off they go. They walk right into a hornets nest of trouble, not just from the Cartel but from one of those three lettered agencies. You know the ones, C.I.A., DEA, FBI...those guys. They get warned about the price on their heads by the feds and that gang member Mike had the fight with, as a common courtesy and for "keeping it gangsta".

The movie is fast paced and hilarious as it is brutal at times (I still feel badly for that rookie cop). My only problem with this movie was the ending. It was perfect up until the ending in my opinion but I won't divulge my issues here. The cinematography had that Blair Witch feel since there was a lot of hand held camera work. However they did the coolest thing where Brain and Mike wore cameras so you still got that up close and intimate feel without all the camera shaking. The music by David Sardy was intense and taut. It mirrored the images on the screen pitch perfectly. This movie is worth the price of admission, it's just THAT good (except the ending, of course). See it and I'll see you at the theater.