Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) runs a New York nightclub frequented by Russian gangsters. His world is centered around enjoying himself with his girlfriend Amanda (Eva Mendes) in a society of drugs and alcohol. It’s not long before we find out that to facilitate this world he’s distanced himself as much as possible from his family of police officers. When his father, Deputy Chief Bert Grusinsky (Robert Duvall) and his brother Captain Joseph Grusinsky (Mark Wahlberg) start cracking down on the drugs being dealt in the nightclub, Bobby is forced to choose sides.

We Own the Night is one of those solid police movies that tries to rely on straight forward story telling rather leaning on a multitude of action scenes. Unfortunately, the script doesn’t really carry the weight of expectation as only Phoenix’s character gets the chance to display any real complexity. Nobody else gets the same opportunity and it’s a shame because it’s a waste of a good cast. Duval and Wahlberg put in decent performances without being stretched and although Mendes fares a little better, she still doesn’t get the kind of gritty role she could have portrayed.

That’s not to say that the script is poorly written, just a little lacking in tension or gripping drama. When the action scenes do come they are handled superbly well. Director (and writer) James Gray chooses to display a degree of realism rather than resorting to some state-of-the-art fireworks to get our hearts pumping. Even the car chase is a little understated and it makes it all the more compelling to watch.

Phoenix delivers the standout performance in a mumbling, nonchalant kind of way but is undermined by the contrived ending. Once his character is given carte blanche to do whatever he likes and starts wondering around with a shotgun all the realism unravels into a messy ending.

All in all a solid police movie that doesn’t quite engage. It suffers from an undulation of too many lows being overwhelmed by the highs. Still, it’s certainly watchable and a harmless way to spend a couple hours on the sofa.