Ryan McNeil
There are a few actors who can show up, do their usual thing and make for something memorable. Christopher Walken, Robert Downey Jr, and Johnny Depp come to mind. But by and large, it’s amazingly dicey to stake a movie’s success purely on star power…which is exactly the bet PRIDE AND GLORY places. As the filmmakers glanced at the hand they were dealt, they saw Voight, Farrell, and Norton. They felt that they were holding a pair of kings. In reality, it was more like a two and a four.
PRIDE AND GLORY begins by introducing us to a NYPD family. Francis Tiernay (John Voight) is the New York Chief of Detectives. His son, Francis Jr (Noah Emmerish), heads a precinct that includes his brother-in-law Jimmy Egan (Colin Farrell). Francis’ other son Ray (Edward Norton) is also an NYPD detective, but in a completely seperate unit. Obviously, law enforcement runs deep in this family’s blood, which is why all four are deeply shaken when a drug investigation goes wrong and four officers from Francis’ unit are murdered.
As Ray begins to take up the case, we learn that the killings were caused by Jimmy’s corruption and some double-dealings he was working with the druglords. While Jimmy works feverishly to cover his tracks, Ray learns the truth and struggles with the decision of upholding the law or protecting his family. As details unfold, he also discovers that his father and brother are no help, since they want all wrong doings to stay within the unit…to essentially keep it in the family.
I find myself being hard on this movie because of the two lead actors, and knowing what they are capable of. While Farrell does get a scene to show how truly reprehensible his character is, he phones in most of his performance. His work here is neither desperate, nor calculated…he’s just there, and seems to be making up his moves as he goes along. Ed Norton does bring a bit of quiet resolve as Ray, but his work also seems like he phoned most of it in. Worst of all is John Voight who brings nothing to his role of Francis Sr. He plays it without a bit of the authority an Irish cop father would, and seems to have only been cast to include another famous face.
I live for cop movies, and even when they’re done badly they can still be pretty good (like TRAINING DAY for example). But where this movie could have been a low boiling story of corruption and sacrifice, it feels more like a mad scramble to hide the stain on the carpet before mom gets home. Most of the scenes feel like something I’ve seen before, from the sick sister, to the corrupt officer confessing in the journalist’s car. As if I hadn’t swallowed enough cliches, the movie features a one-on-one barfight in its final act where a character actuallystarts a high spitited celtic jig on the jukebox!!
Audiences can deal with a thin story. Audiences can also deal with a flat performance. But when you have flat performances delivering a thin story, you’ve left the audience nothing (heck – there arene’t even any good explosions to distract in PRIDE AND GLORY). It’s not good enough just to cast actors like Colin Farrell and edward Norton, turn on the cameras and wait for the magic to happen. This time of year, where every weekend is stacked with dramas, every effort must be made to make your movie stand out.
Interestingly, PRIDE AND GLORY was supposed to be released in the spring. New Line pushed the release for no good reason (in an odd choice, it even played The Toronto International Film Festival). When I left the movie, I quickly understood why it was pushed- it wasn’t to seperate it from another similar project, or to position it for Oscar hopes. It was, quite simply, because it isn’t very good.
I really wanted to like this movie. But I completely agree with your review.