Blu-Ray Review: ‘Pride and Glory’ Wastes Two Talented Stars in Generic Drama

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HollywoodChicago.com Blu-Ray Rating: 2.0/5.0
Blu-Ray Rating: 2.0/5.0

CHICAGO – The Blu-Ray package for Gavin O’Connor’s “Pride and Glory” features shots of stars Edward Norton and Colin Farrell wielding guns on both the front and back of the case. The artistic intention is clear - Try and sell this generic, dull cop drama as an action film, as that’s the genre that takes off on the home market. Don’t buy it.

“Pride and Glory” is most interesting as an example of how even a talented group of actors can go shockingly awry if the script doesn’t work. I think the very-talented Norton and Farrell both thought they were making a movie about characters with gray moral codes like Vic Mackey from “The Shield” or Bud White from “L.A. Confidential,” but they ended up making a flick with all good or bad and no degrees in between. Gray is interesting. Black and white is boring and conventional.

Pride and Glory was released by Warner Brothers Home Video on January 27th, 2009.
Pride and Glory was released by Warner Brothers Home Video on January 27th, 2009.
Photo credit: Warner Brothers

Norton is one of the best actors of his generation and Colin Farrell has made some great decisions lately, including his work with Woody Allen on “Cassandra’s Dream” and choosing a role in “In Bruges” that would win him a Golden Globe. But “Pride and Glory” was a mistake. It’s one of those screenplays that is based on nothing but ridiculous, unbelievable melodrama and that mistakes monologues for character development. We’ve seen the story of corrupt cops and the ripple effect their decisions have on their family and friends a thousand times before.

Pride and Glory was released by Warner Brothers Home Video on January 27th, 2009.
Pride and Glory was released by Warner Brothers Home Video on January 27th, 2009.
Photo credit: Warner Brothers

Four cops are gunned down in a New York drug den. Immediately, something doesn’t look right. What were the cops doing there in the first place? And why does it look like they were ambushed? Could someone have tipped off their murderers that the officers were on their way?

The investigation into that horrific night will include a severely traumatized investigator named Ray Tierney (Norton), his reckless brother-in-law (Farrell), his brother (Noah Emmerich), and his irascible father (Jon Voight). How far will Ray go into his investigation when it keeps leading him back to his own front door?

“Pride and Glory” has several flaws but most of them come back to one major problem - the screenplay. Every single line of dialogue either pushes the generic plot forward or features some cliche from the cop movie handbook. It all climaxes in a final act that is one of the most ridiculous of 2008.

Norton clearly figured out that the script was problematic at some point during production because you can literally see this excellent actor check out of the film. It’s his most half-asleep performance. On the other end of the spectrum is Voight’s scenery-chewing, ridiculous, Razzie-worthy turn.

Farrell isn’t bad but his character is so over-the-top that he can’t do much with him. O’Connor and co-writer Joe Carnahan make the mistake of turning Jimmy, Farrell’s character, into a worthless scumbag, a guy who actually holds an iron over a baby’s face to get the information he needs. “Pride and Glory” would have been much more effective if there was any gray area to Jimmy instead of just an awful human being.

“Pride and Glory” may be all blacks and whites thematically, but the Blu-Ray release is being produced by Warner Brothers, which means stunning HD. The 1080p widescreen picture is very good and the Dolby TrueHD track gets the job done. New WB theatrical releases always look and sound very good on Blu-Ray and “Pride and Glory” is no exception. It’s what we’ve come to expect from Warner Brothers.

As for special features, “Pride and Glory” includes only a comprehensive documentary calls “Source of Pride: The Making of Pride and Glory” and a digital copy of the film. With dozens of interviews and over an hour of running time, “Source of Pride” is better-than-average when it comes to featurettes. In many ways, the documentary is more interesting than the film, as it illustrates how much hard work goes into a film like “Pride and Glory,” even if the final product doesn’t turn out like they hoped it would.

‘Pride and Glory’ is released by Warner Brothers Home Video and stars Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Noah Emmerich, and Jon Voight. It was written by Joe Carnahan & Gavin O’Connor and directed by O’Connor. It was released on January 27th, 2009. The film is rated R.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

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