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End of Watch2012 | 1.85:1
“End of Watch” touches absolute brilliance with alarming inconsistency. It’s a procedural drama with a film school twist, using video cameras to dig deeper into the hardened cinematic routine of the L.A.P.D. Instead of “Cops,” where a cameraman is largely responsible for capturing criminal activity, “End of Watch” puts the video equipment into the hands of the police, creating a spirited atmosphere of intimacy to aid a tale of partnership put to the ultimate test on a daily basis. It’s an interesting concept with a trendy found-footage tilt, yet writer/director David Ayer doesn’t follow through with the possibilities. In fact, he doesn’t follow through with much of anything in this searing but problematic cop drama. 
Police officers who’ve been praised for their work patrolling the streets of South Central, Los Angeles, Brian (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Mike (Michael Pena) have developed a tight bond over the years, sharing the details of their lives as they make their daily rounds thwarting the efforts of drug dealers, gangbangers, and the disturbed. As the weeks pass, Brian collects footage on video and spy cameras to build a film project for school, while Mike eagerly anticipates the arrival of a baby with wife Gabby (Natalie Martinez). When a simple act of investigation finds the pair stumbling into a human trafficking ring managed by a Mexican drug cartel, Brian and Mike can’t resist delving further into the case, working to locate clues that could elevate their career path in the department. Instead of delivering swift justice, the pair is targeted for murder by cartel goons, walking blindly into a citywide war zone. There’s an intensity and level of violence to “End of Watch” that’s clearly designed to keep viewers breathless, loosening intellectual demands to play visceral with formulaic material, seen in numerous features and television shows. Ayer himself can’t shake the urban insanity routine, previously helming 2005’s “Harsh Times” and 2008’s “Street Kings,” while scripting similar films such as “Dark Blue,” “Training Day,” and “S.W.A.T.” Ayer knows police procedure down to its fibers, which is more than enough to make “End of Watch” clang with authority, but he’s insisting on a specialized visual approach to lend the material an urgency it wouldn’t otherwise carry, employing Brian’s cameras (a camcorder and two spy devices clipped on their uniforms) to capture most of the action. 
The cinematography is chaotic, serving Ayer’s approach of realism. While convincing, it’s woefully inconsistent, absent a divide between Brian’s footage and the actual film shoot, with both visual touches suffering from intense shaky-cam execution. The project concept is intriguing, established right away as a character interest that will pay off later in the feature. Unfortunately, the moment never arrives. In fact, Brian’s schooling is never addressed again after the opening, with the footage, and all its incendiary details, left a puzzle without a clear purpose, while Ayer casually blurs the point of the cop’s documentarian quest by making the entire picture quake uncontrollably with low-res cameras. While it works to keep the viewer close to the heart of the action, it’s a dramatic device that’s poorly managed, its function eventually abandoned altogether. Keeping to the streets and all its punishment is where “End of Watch” becomes remarkable. Ayer bathes in the realism of police work and the bond of partnership, with Gyllenhaal and Pena delivering charismatic, improv-heavy performances that underline the sense of duty and fear cops face during their rounds. Without a definitive plot to follow (the cartel business is fringe at best), “End of Watch” blossoms into a character piece with muscular procedural insight, riding along with Brian and Mike as they navigate the deadly streets, dealing with argumentative suspects and dangerous situations that require quick thinking and unimaginable bravery. There’s also time with family life, finding Brian securing a romance with Janet (Anna Kendrick), while Mike manages an enduring relationship with his wife. While a peek into these private lives works to open up the scope of the picture, “End of Watch” is hypnotic when observing the devotion of brotherhood and how that union works when deployed on patrol, finding a few moments of lightness before concentration returns to the severity of these lost neighborhoods. 
“End of Watch” is kneecapped late in the game by a ridiculous, audience-pandering resolution and an absurd ending that’s actually a comedic outtake (its inclusion reeks of studio panic). Ayer makes a lot of mistakes during the course of the picture, yet his intentions appear pure, working to inject immediacy into the police experience, to help outsiders appreciate the complexity of the job and all its nightmarish dangers. It’s a potent brew that demands to be gulped down, not sipped. Taking time to appreciate the effort will only reinforce its needless limitations. Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Anna Kendrick, America Ferrera, Frank Grillo, Michael Peña, Natalie Martinez Director: David Ayer » See full cast & crew |
 
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