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'End of Watch' (15)


****

DVD release

Brian and Mike are two cops patrolling the streets of modern day South Central LA. Good friends and long term partners, the pair have seen lots of ‘action’ working some of the meanest crimes of the age. Working in an area with a level of gang crime, Brian and Mike come up against Mr Big Evil and his gang of Mexican baddies time after time, becoming eager to take the gang off the streets. After making discoveries into cases of human trafficking and drug dealing, the duo enter into something much bigger than either of them can imagine.

Film documentary-style, the intimacy offered feels fresh and interesting. Brian (Jake Gyllenhaal) is filming his work routine as part of a course that requires a piece of art and fixes himself and his partner, Mike (Michael Pena) with clip-on cameras, as well as a hand-held recorder that the pair speak into regularly. There is also a camera fitted in their car, which features some of the most engaging scenes of the film as the pair discuss their lives and the job with openness, as well as teasing each other playfully as all friends do. The scenes feel improvised and the banter between Gyllenhaal and Pena feels authentic and creates moment of genuine humour as well as soul-searching. Only once, at a wedding, does the connection between the two men seem forced, but the conversation is an important one that resonates for the duration of the film.

Another of the beauties of the film comes from the mix of the officer’s off-duty lives with their working routine. Several times we encounter the pair out of work and at family parties or weddings, drawing us into their simple yet happy lives, battling the human woes of love, family and the future. Although Brian and Mike risk their lives every day on the streets they do not live like heroes, which makes them instantly accessible as characters. Similarly, there are some scenes set in the police station, with daily briefings and tom-boy antics that further cement the characters as real and visceral – it feels as though you could pass these people on the street tomorrow.

There are moments of tension and genuine shock, but the film focuses more on the play between the two friends and the effect the scenes have on them rather than letting the camera focus on the violence and mutilation. The final show-down is noisy, chaotic and desperate as Brian and Mike realise what they’ve pitted themselves against. I defy anyone not to shed a tear at the final scene.

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