These days, it’s pretty difficult to make a really good cop drama. Nearly every conceivable storyline has been played out on screen about a million times. Still, Hollywood keeps churning them out. Every once in a while we get a treat, but more frequently the audience leaves the theater feeling like they just spent $8 watching an extended mediocre episode of Law & Order.
That being said, I had to give Pride and Glory a chance. Edward Norton is my favorite actor, bar none. Ever since I first saw American History X, I’ve been willing to shell out my cash for any movie he’s a part of , regardless of how skeptical the previews made me.
From a plot standpoint, Pride and Glory is pretty standard fare. All the cliches are present, with the most obvious ones being good cop / bad cop, the blue wall of silence, and family loyalty versus morality. The story centers around the Tierneys, a multi-generation Irish NYPD family, and their brother/son in law Jimmy Egan (Colin Farrell). The movie begins with our main characters being called to a grisly scene where four cops have died in a shootout with some drug dealers, one of whom managed to escape. The four cops, it turns out, were all part of the unit Francis Tierney Jr. (Noah Emmerich) commanded, and Jimmy was a part of.
Edward Norton’s character, Ray Tierney, was once a rising star in the department, but has relegated himself to desk duty for several years after growing unable to work in the moral gray areas that he was required to as a narcotics officer. Still, his father Francis Sr. (Jon Voight) recognizes that his talent remains, and manages to convince him to join the case’s task force.
Tensions begin to rise as it becomes apparent that the cops who died in the shooting went into the apartment looking for drugs and money, but not on official police business. Things get even more difficult when Ray begins to suspect that Jimmy was a part of the same ring of dirty cops.
Ray finds himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, he has a responsibility to the public to serve and protect. On the other hand, if he exposes Jimmy it will not only leave his sister and her children without a husband and father, but will also bring down his brother Francis, who looked the other way while Jimmy and his crew got away with whatever they wanted.
Pride and Glory, like most other genre driven movies, suffers from a serious lack of character development. Writer/director Gavin O’Connor gives us bits and pieces of back stories for the characters, but always stops short of fleshing them out adequately. It was frustrating because some of these elements, like Ray’s recently defunct marriage, could have really added something to the story.
I also wish that O’Connor would have trimmed some of the film’s side plots. There were several times when I felt like an entire scene should have been left on the cutting room floor.
Despite these criticisms, Pride and Glory has some redeeming characteristics. Norton is predictably excellent throughout, delivering a nuanced performance that the ham-handed Farrell could learn from. Voight is also fantastic, showcasing his skills in a way he hasn’t done in several years.
Overall, if you’re a fan of the crime dramas and haven’t grown weary of the police movie cliches, you will probably really enjoy Pride and Glory. If you’re looking for something original, or a2008 version of The Departed, you’re destined to leave the theater disappointed.
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