Broken City (2013)

I have noticed that most people who go to the movies have rather narrow judgment of what they’ve seen. They may be vaguely aware of a particularly famous director and see such a person’s movies just because they made something else they liked. Every once a while, if it’s especially bold or unique, they may comment on the cinematography or editing, but for the most part all anyone sees or hears are actors. Nobody talks about movies in terms of people who made them, but of people in them, as in, “the new Tom Cruise movie,” or, “that movie Bruce Willis made.” Any positive or negative criticism that should be pointed at directors, writers or other members of the actual crew are usually attributed to the stars, because they are the ones that represent the movie. They can often determine whether or not it succeeds.

I say all this because Broken City is just the sort of movie that benefits from this view. Nobody who sees it will walk out of the theater saying, “My, but that story was full of holes and clichés,” or “Wasn’t that oddly paced for a thriller?” No, they’ll say, “Russell Crowe was good, wasn’t he?”

Crowe has had it a bit rough lately. He recently appeared in the truly terrible Man with the Iron Fists, which he followed with that uncomfortable performance in Les Miserables. With his villainous turn in Broken City, I may have never seen him so comfortable. Vicious and dominating, he is so electric and his scenes so well-timed that he has created the illusion of quality. There were early scenes where I even thought it was a good movie, but I quickly caught on. I can easily compare this picture to Oliver Stone’s Wall Street. Like that film, Broken City lacks sturdy direction and a smart screenplay, but can rustle up good dialogue for its lead attraction, a technically supporting character that is played so ideally that he seems to have a presence throughout.

The story here about a private investigator hired by a corrupt public official to uncover an unwanted alliance between his wife and a political enemy is very tired and predictable. It not only fails to offer any surprises, it is so obvious that one wonders just how stupid director Allen Hughes thinks we are. As I mentioned earlier, the pacing of the film is strangely off, seeming to take much longer than it should to get pretty much nowhere and pausing for unnecessary lengths on trivial sidelines. The other performances are also useless with star Mark Wahlberg practically sleepwalking through his idiotic role and Catherine Zeta-Jones apparently incapable of finding a character that actually requires any use of her talents. I saw this mess of a film and somehow still thought it wasn’t a waste. I suspect I simply fell prone to the “actors do everything” approach, as most people will. Russell Crowe is worth seeing. This movie is not.

5/10