Review: Pride and Glory

When four men in blue are killed after what should have been a routine drug bust, questions are raised. It seems someone had tipped off the drug dealers that the police were on their way. This raises questions of who told the bad guys. And this may just lead to someone on the inside. I would talk more about what happens after but since the film is fairly predictable, I’ll skip all that. But it all boils down to a family of cops. Jon Voight plays Francis Tierney, Sr., a man whose family have all been police officers. Although Detective Ray Tierney has found his way out of his father’s shadow and left the precinct, he agrees to investigate the killings. Once on board, he finds that there are many secrets between the officers working under this precinct. You know, sort of like We Own The Night and quite a few other films of this ilk.

Yet Pride and Glory is rich with atmosphere as the family tries to mend after the tragedy. For this, O’Connor has a terrific eye and is able to immerse himself in their world. And what a dark world it is. Jimmy Egan (Colin Farrell) is married to one of Francis’ daughters, the painfully underused Lake Bell. The two have children and a hopeful future. While Francis Tierney, Jr. (Noah Emmerich) is dealing with his own families fate involving his cancer stricken wife Abby (Jennifer Ehle). In fact, that is probably the most painful and downright heartbreaking story in the film. And thanks to Ms. Ehle’s performance, she gets a ton more mileage than most of the supporting roles. Abby questions what her husband is involved in and is terrified what may happen to her children when she dies. I think a movie just based on this relationship would have been much stronger and more heartfelt then the main issue of possible corrupt cops.

But even with the clichés, I really enjoyed the grounded work that each of the main actors offer. This is a film that carefully balances between right and wrong but frankly, shows more of the injustice and corruption. It is a very grim look at those men protecting our streets. If it hadn’t been Voight, Emmerich, Farrell and Norton, I’m not sure it would have worked quite as well as it sometimes does. But with that, aside from Jennifer Ehle, both Farrell and Voight show the most passion. Father and son-in-law offer both menace and vulnerability as their characters grow throughout the film. In one shockingly intense scene, Farrell wants to get someone to talk, he does so with the means of someone’s baby and a hot iron. As I mentioned, Farrell is taking on much more interesting roles than MIAMI VICE and S.W.A.T. He does terrific work here.