End of Watch
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Writer/director David Ayer doesn’t stray too far from the streets of Los Angeles with his films. There have been hits (he wrote the screenplay for 2001’s Training Day, which saw Denzel Washington win a Best Actor Oscar), misses (2008’s Street Kings, whose solitary award nomination was a Best Actor for Common at the BET’s), and maybes (Harsh Times from 2006).
End of Watch seems to be a return to form. Officers Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Zavala (Michael Pena) don’t just carry out their patrol duties but like to hang out when they clock off for the day. Naturally, something external will enter the equation to disrupt the happy dynamic and the emergence of a Mexican drug cartel who want our two heroes executed for unwittingly uncovering their plans understandably puts a serious spanner in the works.
The reviews are uniformly excellent. “Like a knife in the eye, End of Watch cuts past the cliches of standard police procedurals, serving instead as a visceral ride-along with two thrill-seeking cops,” is the opening to Variety‘s take. “It should seem ludicrous, this top-heavy blend of action and drama, but Ayer whips us along, outpacing implausibility at every turn,” notes the Guardian. And Screen International writes that, “With a lived-in authenticity, Ayer’s leads reveal how these two cops share a bond that no one, not even their significant others, can truly understand.”
MORE: TIME’s Review of Street Kings
NewsFeed’s Flicks Pick: Not a duffer among them. As Trouble With the Curve would have it (which, at a pinch, is our pick), this week’s movies go three-for-three.