Review: End of Watch

Movie- End of Watch

Language- English

Director- David Ayer

Cast- Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena, Anna Kendrick... and others. 

Watched a cop movie after a long time. Tears running down my eyes while watching a movie… after a long time too.

Some movie stirs our senses, and this movie does that. Loved every frame of the movie and hats off to the director for bringing this honest piece of work, and cops across the world will appreciate what has been shown. We have seen so many cop movies. Some are exceptional, some are duds, and few movies get into our hearts and we cannot forget them, never. And this is one such movie which I can surely say that stays with us forever. And after watching this, surely your view about the cops on the roads will change. It changed mine.

End of watch is a different type of cop movie, a cop movie taken differently. The plot is simple; it is a story of two cops Taylor (Awesome Jake Gyllenhaal) and Zavala (and Awesome Michael Pena) and their everyday life as patrol men, their personal life, their bonding, their jokes, their marriage, and their life as cops. 

The life of the leads (Taylor and Zavala) are shown taken from handheld camera most of the times, most part of it taken by Taylor, few scenes by the gangsters and we do also have regular camera work in places where it is required, hence this cannot be categorized into the ‘Blair witch Project’ type. Taylor shoots everyday happenings in a camera and also has got front camera hanging from both their shirts, from which we get to see their world as cops, of how they rescue people, of their daily talks, of their personal talks about their life, their jokes and of course their action as cops on duty, there is an awesome sequence of them rescuing children from a burning house, captured by their front camera.

In line of duty, they come across a huge drug cache and in process get crossed with a notorious gang, and what happens forms the rest of the story.

We get sucked into Taylor and Zavala’s world; we share their happiness, tidbits of marriage and even the birth of cute little Zavala junior. Also celebrate when they successfully rescue kids from a burning building.  The handheld camera makes it more real, and the front camera from their patrol cars add to credibility, and moreover I never saw Jake (Gyllenhaal) or Pena (Michael), all there was, was a bald Taylor and Mexican Zavala. Their performance is exceptional and we believe we are into lives of two cops. 

Moreover the supporting cast is also good. Be it Zavala’s wife or Jake’s wife (beautiful Anna Kendrick), the Sarge (their chief), and other patrol officers are perfect to T, an overall brilliant performance. The gang members too are fit for their role.

Songs played in the background were terrific. And never I have seen such a beautiful chemistry between the leads in a cop movie, loved Jake and Anna’s romance and watch out for the dance sequence, it was just awesome! And also the whole marriage sequence, the bonding between the leads- Jake and Pena is superb and it is so realistic, as if seeing someone’s true wedding footage, the speeches made during the wedding, the cop talks, everything were just great. 

The main high point in the movie is the chemistry between Jake and Pena. If it did not work out the whole movie would have been a dud. But it is not so, they two bond like lifetime buddies and we too feel the warmth in their relationship. It is serious; it is funny, their respect for each other, and their love for each other oozes out. We feel respect towards the two friends and also it reminds us of our very own close buddies. Two thumbs up for David for making a perfect choice for the cast and also the leads Jake and Michael, brilliant job. There were no issues in believing them as Taylor and Zavala. The other departments such as editing has done good job, no lagging, movie sails smoothly.

The cinematography department deserves special mention, it has done an exceptional job, no jittery camera works, the handheld cameras are steady, and moreover adding of normal camera shots in between is good thinking instead of the whole movie shot on the handheld camera, kudos to the director. 

Major thing which works for the movie is that, the cops are not shown as super heroes. They are the everyday people we see. They laugh, they fight, they are naughty, they have wives, children, they feel the pain, the loss, and they are HUMAN. This is the success of the director and the team for making us believe that the characters are actually real and we are made to travel their life with them, the human cops, who are no different from us. I salute the director and the team for giving us this wonderful movie, this is totally awesome, brings back the respect to the cops, who deserve much more than that.

Cons: The stupid police reach late every time (watch movie to know why). Sometimes the camera proves irritant as it is hand held in some sequences. A little more background on the leads, their life shown still more elaborately, would have added to genuineness of the movie, it would have taken it from this level to the temple of the legends, but it falls short of being a legend. It is an episode of police life, feels like a documentary as most sequences comes from the handheld camera. Some gruesome scenes could have been avoided.

Pros: The cons above mentioned were minor glitches, which could have made the movie a legend, but I am not complaining, it was the director’s vision and I appreciate that. What else pros needed other than the opening scene dialogue (at the background) telling about the life of police, it was brilliant, just awesome. It is more than enough to make you love the movie. It made me laugh, enjoy, spend some time with good cops, see how their life was, get an insight into their family life, share the bonding between two unknown persons, made me respect their friendship, made me respect mine too, It made me respect the cops, it made me angry, I cursed, I hit the wall because I could not do anything but just watch, made tears run down my eyes, never I have been emotionally involved with a movie. Loved it, will never be able to forget it.

Overall: Must watch! Don’t miss this.

P.S-  Praying that Pena gets nomination for the best supporting actor.

P.P.S- Do read the quote present in the image above.