Pride and Glory

Stars: Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight, Noah Emmerich, Jennifer Ehle, John Ortiz, Shea Whigham, Frank Grillo, Lake Bell, Carmen Ejogo, Manny Perez, Wayne Duvall

Director: Gavin O'Connor

I want cops I can trust, says paterfamilias and Manhattan Chief of Detectives Voight when he asks son Norton to lead the investigation into the drug-related shooting of four New York policemen.

Fat chance! Co-writer/director OConnor (the son of an Irish-American New York policeman) delivers an effective enough Serpico-style story of corruption, loyalty and betrayal among family members of the NYPD, a recurring American genre which, while familiar, especially to viewers of US televisions finest police thriller series Law and Order, is nevertheless eminently watchable and also fairly easy to forget.

On the credit side there are strong performances by Voight (who first walked the mean streets of Manhattan in Midnight Cowboy) and Norton who, as usual, plays his character convincingly although, also as usual, as rather more intellectual than the characterization actually requires. Farrell gives his all and sometimes rather too much as Nortons dubious son-in-law while what a good actress like Ehle is doing, playing a cancer victim with shaved head and not much to do, remains between her and her agent.

OConnor provides plenty of action but cinematographer Declan Quinn appears to have mistaken film noir for underexposure which, while making New York seem suitably moody, also rather too often makes the action harder to see than absolutely necessary.

Alan Frank

USA 2008. UK Distributor: Entertainment Film Distributors. Colour.
125 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 3, Drugs 0, Swearing 3.

Review date: 07 Nov 2008