Pride And Glory: (2008) [Blu-ray]
Crime | Drama | Thriller

Four cops down: two dead, two likely. An NYPD drug bust has gone horribly wrong, and Detective Ray Tierney heads the investigating task force. He already has ties to the case. His brother was commander of the ambushed officers. His brother in law, a fellow officer, often partnered with them. The more Ray uncovers, the more those family ties are tested. Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight and Noah Emmerich star in a gritty, tension-packed tale of a multigenerational family of cops facing hard realities and tough choices. Set and filmed in Manhattan's Washington Heights, Pride And Glory draws you into a grippingly raw real world....and into a house divided.

User Comment: AnthonyTambakis from United States, 16 November 2007 • I saw a screening of "Pride and Glory" last night. It's the kind of American movie you don't see anymore, a throwback to the big themes and dramatic tone of the 1950s, when Elia Kazan was making movies like "East of Eden" and "On the Waterfront," and Arthur Miller was writing plays like "Death of a Salesman" and "All My Sons." Family, honor, corruption, right and wrong, fathers and sons--these are the kinds of issues that director/co-writer Gavin O'Connor is taking on in "Pride and Glory," and in doing so he's made a timeless film. Sincere without being sentimental (much like "Miracle," O'Connor's last effort), "Pride and Glory" gets elbow deep in a corruption scandal that threatens to crack the blue wall of the NYPD and destroy the Tierney family legacy (patriarch Jon Voight, sons Ed Norton and Noah Emmerich, and outlaw brother-in-law Colin Farrell, who has never been better). A muscular, old-school American film, with big themes splashed on a big canvas, "Pride and Glory" is familiar and original at the same time. In the Age of Irony, these are the kinds of movies you rarely see anymore. An honest, gripping drama.

Summary: Timeless American Film.

User Comment: Slaughterlouse from United States, 26 October 2008 • Colin Farrell, Edward Norton, Noah Emmerich, and Jon Voight all deliver great performances. There are many intense scenes throughout the movie, and Norton and Farrell match them with their own intensity. Voight is believable and realistic as the patriarch of the family of cops and the chief, trying to keep his family in order as he thinks it should be.

Despite the inspired performances of the main characters, however, Pride and Glory falls short due to awkward pacing, pointlessly convoluted side-stories revealed in equally pointless scenes, and a general lack of focus. Pride and Glory tries to tell two or three stories at once, but fails to really punctuate any one of them, leading to a fairly emotionless climax and no discernible, unifying theme. The result is a forgettable movie and a hint of buyer's remorse; if you're a big enough fan of Ed Norton or Colin Farrell and want to see either of them put on a great performance, catch the matinée, or even still, wait a few months and rent it.

Summary: Great performances, below-average movie.

[CSW] -2- It deserves a -3- because the actors were good but it only got a -2- because the actors didn't have a decent story to sink their teeth into. Each of the main characters had to play a wishy-washy morally ambiguous character. If no one has a backbone how can you expect to get a strong storyline? The answer is you can't. I agree with the second user above "Pride and Glory falls short due to awkward pacing, pointlessly convoluted side-stories revealed in equally pointless scenes, and a general lack of focus." I say better luck next time because this movie is totally forgettable.
[V3.5-A4.0] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box.

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