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End of Watch
(directed by David Ayer, 2012)
This Movie Sucks.
Everyone else apparently loves this movie, including most top reviewers out there, but lemme tell ya: I was bored, I wasn't into the buddy-buddy relationship between Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña, and I think the film stinks. Most people are saying this is a very realistic cop movie --- I don't care. As a movie watcher and someone who expects to be moved and entertained by something movie makers create, I was completely upset by this experience. The only thing I could really like about this movie was just looking at Jake Gyllenhaal -- he's pretty darn sexy again in this film. One of his sexiest appearances, perhaps, because I dig the bald head and the police uniform. OTHER THAN THAT... this movie was painful to watch. It would have been pure torture without Gyllenhaal. This has gotta be the worst movie he's done. At least it is in my eyes. And yeah, I'm considering Bubble Boy, a movie I actually do like.
It's about two cops riding around in South Central. When they're not in the car discussing women, they're getting calls from freaked out ghetto ladies who have lost their babies. Occasionally they stumble upon dead bodies and human trafficking and guns and *****. At one point there's a quinceañera, at another point there's a wedding. There's a big shootout of an ending. Oh, did I mention that it's a shaky cam film because Jake Gyllenhaal's character is filming everything for some kind of project?
I really didn't feel like there was any chemistry between Gyllenhaal and Pena. I don't know -- either Gyllenhaal doesn't belong in this kind of movie, or Michael Pena needed a different actor to play his partner, or Gyllenhaal needed a different actor to play his partner. I didn't feel like there was much to them -- and believe me, I KNOW how to feel out a good male-male relationship, especially one that involves Jake Gyllenhaal. I wasn't moved. I wasn't moved at all -- and this movie largely depends on you being able to feel for these two. Other people might have felt it... but not I.
I sensed something about Michael Pena, as if he was angry and maybe he was trying to upstage Gyllenhaal. Whether I'm right or wrong, I don't know, but he certainly can't upstage Gyllenhaal, who I feel has a monumental presence, but unfortunately he's not choosing the best films to get himself more OUT THERE. I have loved so much that he's been doing the past couple of years: Brothers. Love and Other Drugs. Source Code, released last year, is genius and one of the best movies he's ever done. Zodiac. All were great films, but all have been forgettable. End of Watch - if it lives longer than these other movies, that would really disappoint me. But it's definitely forgettable in my book. Deserves to be.
I might be wrong, though - Prince of Persia might be Gyllenhaal's worst. Although, I don't think it is compared to End of Watch.
There was one scene near the end that I felt was good... but the rest felt like garbage. I really hated the scenes involving the Mexican gangsters. I hated how sappy and stereotypical all of these people felt. It was like watching Cops if it had been turned into an R rated movie produced by a Mexican Barbie doll. There's something weird about it, something very not right. I loathed the shaky cam as a story device. I don't care that it was filmed shaky cam style, but I hated it as a story device. I don't even think it's really given much necessity. It's like, "Hey! This is the age of tiny cameras that you can take everywhere! Let's do a cop movie and show how hard and dangerous it is to be a cop. Let me explain what we're doing as cops to you through this camera." Meanwhile, these characters are acting juvenile. Just juvenile. Not really juvenile and stupid, like they're a couple of Jackass guys, but just immature. They don't give off a mature presence. And that's a major problem with this film, especially with Gyllenhaal. Michael Pena seems a little more grown up than Gyllenhaal and that's what will work for him. This seems like a movie Gyllenhaal should have done eight years ago. It's got that kind of youthful Jarhead vibe to it. Although, that movie is so much better.
But really, the worst part about this whole thing is I think that Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena were wrong together. But I think the movie sucks regardless. Jake Gyllenhaal shouldn't have done this. It's a trap. Gyllenhaal is better than this kind of material. He and Pena felt like they were just reading lines back and forth. It was cold to me. Gyllenhaal has too much presence to be reduced to gangster urban drama. If he'd pick his movies better, he'd be more of a leading star and fluff like that Ryan Gosling, who is a mannequin, wouldn't be trumpeting through Hollywood with emotional powerhouses like Drive. Gyllenhaal wants to be a bad boy -- and he IS a bad boy, that's why I like him. Unfortunately, they're just not making very bad boy friendly films anymore. It's all very Channing Tatum/Magic Mike right now. This is what Gyllenhaal has to do in the meantime - things like End of Watch.
I pray for Gyllenhaal's future as an actor and as a person. Recent photos of him show him looking very bearded and older looking. It looks like he's going through a phase, perhaps he's maturing. I just hope that it's not a sign that he's settling into the possibility of being obscure and forgotten. I'm glad End of Watch got a lot of positive reviews -- that robot who needs the plug pulled on him, Roger Ebert, gave the film FOUR stars, which shocks me. This is good for Jake Gyllenhaal.
But my own opinion is that End of Watch is very awful.
(directed by David Ayer, 2012)
This Movie Sucks.
Everyone else apparently loves this movie, including most top reviewers out there, but lemme tell ya: I was bored, I wasn't into the buddy-buddy relationship between Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña, and I think the film stinks. Most people are saying this is a very realistic cop movie --- I don't care. As a movie watcher and someone who expects to be moved and entertained by something movie makers create, I was completely upset by this experience. The only thing I could really like about this movie was just looking at Jake Gyllenhaal -- he's pretty darn sexy again in this film. One of his sexiest appearances, perhaps, because I dig the bald head and the police uniform. OTHER THAN THAT... this movie was painful to watch. It would have been pure torture without Gyllenhaal. This has gotta be the worst movie he's done. At least it is in my eyes. And yeah, I'm considering Bubble Boy, a movie I actually do like.
It's about two cops riding around in South Central. When they're not in the car discussing women, they're getting calls from freaked out ghetto ladies who have lost their babies. Occasionally they stumble upon dead bodies and human trafficking and guns and *****. At one point there's a quinceañera, at another point there's a wedding. There's a big shootout of an ending. Oh, did I mention that it's a shaky cam film because Jake Gyllenhaal's character is filming everything for some kind of project?
I really didn't feel like there was any chemistry between Gyllenhaal and Pena. I don't know -- either Gyllenhaal doesn't belong in this kind of movie, or Michael Pena needed a different actor to play his partner, or Gyllenhaal needed a different actor to play his partner. I didn't feel like there was much to them -- and believe me, I KNOW how to feel out a good male-male relationship, especially one that involves Jake Gyllenhaal. I wasn't moved. I wasn't moved at all -- and this movie largely depends on you being able to feel for these two. Other people might have felt it... but not I.
I sensed something about Michael Pena, as if he was angry and maybe he was trying to upstage Gyllenhaal. Whether I'm right or wrong, I don't know, but he certainly can't upstage Gyllenhaal, who I feel has a monumental presence, but unfortunately he's not choosing the best films to get himself more OUT THERE. I have loved so much that he's been doing the past couple of years: Brothers. Love and Other Drugs. Source Code, released last year, is genius and one of the best movies he's ever done. Zodiac. All were great films, but all have been forgettable. End of Watch - if it lives longer than these other movies, that would really disappoint me. But it's definitely forgettable in my book. Deserves to be.
I might be wrong, though - Prince of Persia might be Gyllenhaal's worst. Although, I don't think it is compared to End of Watch.
There was one scene near the end that I felt was good... but the rest felt like garbage. I really hated the scenes involving the Mexican gangsters. I hated how sappy and stereotypical all of these people felt. It was like watching Cops if it had been turned into an R rated movie produced by a Mexican Barbie doll. There's something weird about it, something very not right. I loathed the shaky cam as a story device. I don't care that it was filmed shaky cam style, but I hated it as a story device. I don't even think it's really given much necessity. It's like, "Hey! This is the age of tiny cameras that you can take everywhere! Let's do a cop movie and show how hard and dangerous it is to be a cop. Let me explain what we're doing as cops to you through this camera." Meanwhile, these characters are acting juvenile. Just juvenile. Not really juvenile and stupid, like they're a couple of Jackass guys, but just immature. They don't give off a mature presence. And that's a major problem with this film, especially with Gyllenhaal. Michael Pena seems a little more grown up than Gyllenhaal and that's what will work for him. This seems like a movie Gyllenhaal should have done eight years ago. It's got that kind of youthful Jarhead vibe to it. Although, that movie is so much better.
But really, the worst part about this whole thing is I think that Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena were wrong together. But I think the movie sucks regardless. Jake Gyllenhaal shouldn't have done this. It's a trap. Gyllenhaal is better than this kind of material. He and Pena felt like they were just reading lines back and forth. It was cold to me. Gyllenhaal has too much presence to be reduced to gangster urban drama. If he'd pick his movies better, he'd be more of a leading star and fluff like that Ryan Gosling, who is a mannequin, wouldn't be trumpeting through Hollywood with emotional powerhouses like Drive. Gyllenhaal wants to be a bad boy -- and he IS a bad boy, that's why I like him. Unfortunately, they're just not making very bad boy friendly films anymore. It's all very Channing Tatum/Magic Mike right now. This is what Gyllenhaal has to do in the meantime - things like End of Watch.
I pray for Gyllenhaal's future as an actor and as a person. Recent photos of him show him looking very bearded and older looking. It looks like he's going through a phase, perhaps he's maturing. I just hope that it's not a sign that he's settling into the possibility of being obscure and forgotten. I'm glad End of Watch got a lot of positive reviews -- that robot who needs the plug pulled on him, Roger Ebert, gave the film FOUR stars, which shocks me. This is good for Jake Gyllenhaal.
But my own opinion is that End of Watch is very awful.