We Own the Night
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJames Gray
Written byJames Gray
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJoaquín Baca-Asay
Edited byJohn Axelrad
Music byWojciech Kilar
Production
companies
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release dates
  • May 25, 2007 (2007-05-25) (Cannes)
  • October 12, 2007 (2007-10-12) (United States)
Running time
117 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$21–28 million[2] [3]
Box office$55.3 million[3]

We Own the Night is a 2007 American action thriller film[4] directed and written by James Gray, co-produced by and starring Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg, and co-starring Eva Mendes and Robert Duvall. It is the third film directed by Gray, and the second to feature Phoenix and Wahlberg together, the first being 2000's The Yards. The title comes from the motto of the NYPD's Street Crimes Unit, which disbanded in 2002.

The film premiered on May 25, 2007 at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival,[5] and was released in the United States on October 12, 2007, ultimately receiving mixed reviews from critics and grossing $55 million.

Plot

In Brooklyn, New York in fall 1988, Robert "Bobby" Grusinsky is the manager of the El Caribe nightclub in Brighton Beach, which is owned by his boss, fur importer Marat Buzhayev, whose nephew, mobster Vadim Nezhinski, is a patron of the joint. Estranged from his father Albert ("Burt"), an NYPD Deputy Chief, and brother Joseph, a newly-minted Captain, he uses his deceased mother Carol's maiden name, Green, as a part of his alias on the job and opts to instead hang out with his girlfriend Amada Juarez and best friend Louis "Jumbo" Falsetti, aiming to run his own club in Manhattan. Joseph, who has just been named to be the head of a narcotics unit, warns him that he will lead a bust on the spot with the aim of netting Vadim.

Bobby is jailed for possessing drugs and resisting arrest in the wake of the raid on November 22, 1988, souring his ties with Burt and Joseph, who both bail him out of jail the next day; he and Joseph then come to blows in a very harsh feud. That evening, a masked Vadim shoots Joseph in the face outside of his house and firebombs his car, causing him to be hospitalized at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center for 4 months. Bobby agrees to infiltrate Vadim's drug operation, and when the transceiver hidden in his lighter is exposed, he escapes as Vadim is nabbed by the police.

The bond between Bobby and Amada decays while they are in hiding at the Cue Motor Inn, and they prep for a move to the Corona Hotel once Vadim flees from Rikers Island on March 20, 1989. In the midst of a heavy deluge, his men ambush the three-car escort, one of whom fatally wounds Burt with a shot to the neck. Bobby blacks out in the rain upon seeing his body, waking up a few hours later lying atop a bed in a suite at the Sheraton near Kennedy Airport; he breaks down and sobs in Joseph's arms as Joseph confirms that Burt is dead. At the funeral, Captain Jack Shapiro, a colleague of the family, donates Burt's Korean War combat ribbon to Joseph and informs him of a Russian cocaine shipment that is set to arrive in the area in the coming week.

Upset by Bobby's choice to become a cop to avenge his father's tragic murder, Amada cuts him out of her life because he opted to pursue such a risky change of career without first asking for her input or consent. Sworn into the force due to his "special knowledge", provided that he will undergo his required training at the Police Academy as soon as the case is finished, he questions Jumbo on the night of April 2, 1989, who admits that he betrayed him by leaking word from Amada re the pair's location to Marat. The brothers plan a final sting for that Tuesday, as he recounts that per Jumbo, Marat's grandchildren, who ride horses at Floyd Bennett Field on Tuesdays, act as his couriers. During the sting, Joseph is paralyzed by the memory of his prior injury and is thus unable to proceed, and so Bobby chases Vadim into the reed beds. As the police, having cuffed Marat, toss flares, he goes inside the beds, defying pleas to wait until Vadim emerges. He then finds and kills him with a blow to the chest from his shotgun.

On November 3, 1989, Bobby, now in uniform, graduates from the Academy with honors. Prior to the ceremony, Joseph reveals to him that in light of his attack, he is to be taking up a post in the Personnel Bureau so that he can freely spend more time at home with his wife and 3 children. As the chaplain opens by stating in his remarks that Bobby is to deliver the valedictorian address after the invocation, noting that he was the highest academic achiever of his class, Bobby eyes a young lady seated in the crowd who bears a faint likeness to Amada and accepts their love affair is now over. During the invocation, the siblings, seated side by side on stage, softly express their brotherly love, ending the film.

Cast

  • Joaquin Phoenix as Robert "Bobby" Green / Grusinsky
  • Mark Wahlberg as Captain Joseph "Joe" Grusinsky, Bobby's brother
  • Eva Mendes as Amada Juarez, Bobby's girlfriend
  • Robert Duvall as Deputy Chief Albert "Burt" Grusinsky, Bobby's and Joe's father
  • Antoni Corone as Lieutenant Michael Solo, a colleague of Bobby's family
  • Moni Moshonov as Marat Buzhayev
  • Danny Hoch as Louis "Jumbo" Falsetti, Bobby's best friend and assistant manager
  • Tony Musante as Captain Jack Shapiro, a colleague of Bobby's family
  • Paul Herman as NYPD Deputy Commissioner Spiro Giavannis
  • Alex Veadov as Vadim Nezhinski, Marat's nephew
  • Oleg Taktarov as Pavel Lubyarski, an accomplice of Vadim's
  • Dominic Colon as Freddie, the bouncer at El Caribe
  • Craig Walker as Detective Russell De Keifer
  • Fred Burrell as NYPD Commissioner Patrick Ruddy
  • Yelena Solovey as Kalina Buzhayev, Marat's wife
  • Maggie Kiley as Sandra Grusinsky, Joseph's wife
  • Edward Shkolnikov as Eli Mirichenko, the husband of Marat's and Kalina's daughter Masha
  • Edward Conlon as Hospital Guard
  • Coati Mundi as himself
  • Ed Koch, who was Mayor of New York City during the time frame in which the film is set, makes a cameo appearance as himself.

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, 57% of 153 critics gave the film positive reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Bland characters, clichéd dialogue and rickety plotting ensure We Own The Night never lives up to its potential."[6] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[7] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B−" on an A+ to F scale.[8]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote: "This is an atmospheric, intense film, well acted, and when it's working it has a real urgency."[9] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called it "defiantly, refreshingly unhip" and gave it 3 out of 4.[10]

Box office

In its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, the film grossed $10.8 million in 2,362 theaters, ranking #3 at the box office.[11] The film grossed a total of $54.5 million worldwide — $28.6 million in the United States and Canada and $26.5 million in other territories.[2]

In April 2006, after acquiring multiple international rights, Universal Pictures announced its acquisition of domestic rights to the film.[12] However, Sony Pictures later paid $11 million for the domestic rights, releasing it through its Columbia Pictures division.[13]

By June 2017, the film had totaled $22 million in DVD sales[3] and $32 million in DVD rentals.[14]

References

  1. ↑ "We Own The Night (2007)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Archived from the original on 8 October 2022. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  2. 1 2 "We Own the Night". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Archived from the original on October 7, 2022. Retrieved March 5, 2008.
  3. 1 2 3 "We Own the Night (2007)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services. Archived from the original on 2017-07-22. Retrieved 2017-06-20.
  4. ↑ "WE OWN THE NIGHT SUSPENSE, ACTION". Sony Pictures Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2020-12-05. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  5. ↑ "We Own the Night". Cannes Film Festival. Archived from the original on August 5, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
  6. ↑ "We Own The Night (2007)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on November 29, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  7. ↑ "We Own the Night Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
  8. ↑ "WE OWN THE NIGHT (2007) B-". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on February 6, 2018.
  9. ↑ Ebert, Roger (October 11, 2007). "We Own the Night movie review (2007)". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on October 28, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  10. ↑ Travers, Peter (19 October 2007). "We Own the Night". Rolling Stone.
  11. ↑ "We Own the Night: Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved March 5, 2008.
  12. ↑ Kay, Jeremy (27 April 2006). "Universal takes domestic on 2929's We Own The Night". Screen International. Archived from the original on 22 November 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  13. ↑ Lim, Dennis (September 9, 2007). "An Auteur for a Neglected New York City". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 17, 2018. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  14. ↑ "We Own the Night: DVD / Home Video Rentals". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Archived from the original on July 15, 2017. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
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