Tonight, I saw End of Watch. I wasn't really sure what it was about going into it, just that I knew it had Jake Gyllenhaal (my spell-check doesn't like his name, wants me to correct it to "Challenge"), and that it was about cops. The into was very Jarhead-esque. And Jarhead is easily one of my favourite movies, so it gave me high hopes. But it made me a bit worried too, since I thought maybe it would be a touch unoriginal.
That aside, the intro started with Gyllenhaal's voice over and a chase. Once the chase ends, we're transported forward in time, and this it when you realize it. This is a documentary style movie. Much like Chonicle, Cloverfield, and many more, it's filmed pseudo first person, and has the shaky, handheld camera style. Personally, I love this kind of movie, when done well, so it was no big deal to me, but I know some people really aren't fans. One thing I did find odd is that most of the time, the camera is being held by no one. It still retains the handheld camera feel, but there's not actually a character holding it. Threw me of a bit, but not enough to detract from the movie.
What follows is the story of two cops who went through the academy together, became partners and now see each other as brothers. It follows them both on and off the job, and you see the lives of the characters (Gyllenhaal's especially) progress as the movie continues. I like that touch. It gives the movie a sense of time, so that you know that what we're watching takes place over the course of months, maybe longer, and not just a few days.
I won't get into the rest of the movie, if you really want to know more of the plot you can watch a trailer or look it up on IMDB, I don't like to write plot summaries. All I'll say is that I was a fan. I already said I enjoy the camera style, I like Jake Gyllenhaal, I liked Michael Peña's character (and I swear I've seen him before, but can't figure out what in, and I like cop movies (what can I say, I'm a guy).
Not the greatest movie I've ever seen, but a solid 3.5 out of 5.
