End of Watch [DVD]

One of my favorite movies all time! Hits all the emotions

Amazing Movie

Love this movie, love how it came more!!

Top ten movie

'End of Watch', is the only cop film ever to capture the spirit of interaction between 2 ghetto cops and the sort of comments they make to each other while patrolling. In my case, being a minority (3rd Generation Japanese-American), similar to Mike Pena's Hispanic character in this film, paired with a testosterone-fueled white male partner, who was quick with the ethnic slurs, reminded me of working with Bruce Kameg at the 1st Precinct in the late 1970s. I read many of the reviews of the film here, on Amazon.com and it's interesting that people either loved and endorsed the film or HATED it, with little reaction in-between those 2 extremes. There are many cop-haters in the world and some who saw this film said they much preferred 'Training Day'. The reason is obvious to me-the horribly 'bad' cop portrayed by Denzel Washington enabled those cop haters to reinforce their already negative opinions of how corrupt and rotten cops are. Other negative reviews came from law enforcement types who are desk jockeys, paper shufflers or have worked only in suburban areas, where the big call of the night is "a drunk at the 7-Eleven'. They are in no position to judge the authenticity of this film, because their experiences are so different, they might as well have taken place on another planet. Ghetto policing is a whole different experience and it's a young man's game, often performed by coppers with a high school education, at best. Some critics didn't like the "immaturity" of the characters. Like it or not, that depiction is real, not about ALL ghetto cops, but many. A flippant attitude can be essential for mental survival in an insane environment. Some said the camera was too jerky and watching the action made them sick. Welcome to the real world of ghetto cops-in particular the fight near the beginning and the jolting car crash, which began the final action scene. The jerky camera action really 'put you there', making me feel like I was back on the street. It might not be 'pleasant' to experience, but it is realistic. On my first night on patrol, (I was still in the academy) I was sent to the Vernor Pct for 'In Service training'. I rode in the back of a patrol car, with an experienced 2 man crew. After sliding back and forth on the back seat, racing from one priority call to another, and drawing my gun 7 or 8 times in a single night, I felt like I'd been on a roller coaster for 8 hours. I said to myself " I don't think I can do this s*** for 25 years." But some of us did adapt to that crazy world and I remained on uniformed street patrol for 25 years, on Detroit PD. Other negative reviewers (and there were MANY with this objection), stated they couldn't stand the obscene language that was so pervasive in 'End of Watch'. Go back and watch the film again. Although the cops are prone to swearing (which is accurate), 90% of the F-bombs in the film are spoken by ghetto gang members-welcome to reality. Again, this was totally realistic and the 'emotional violence' which Joseph Wambaugh recognized as a major component of the police experience is captured perfectly by the black actor who fights the Hispanic cop at the beginning of the film. I read that he is in fact a real gang member and street guy and the torrent of obscenity and disrespect that flowed from his mouth in that scene was 100% similar to the verbal abuse I listened to, for 25 years. This also transported me back in time, to hear that obscene dialogue. Most of the severe critics of this film are basing their opinions on what? Their years of working at Dunkin Donuts or perhaps the many police movies they've watched? The director of this film wanted to get it right and the 2 main actors spent months riding along with LAPD and LA Sherriff's crews, to get a feel for what they actually say and do, while working. Learning of their preparation for these roles was what nudged me to go see the film. It is very accurate on many levels-I know, because I've lived much of that experience. The only thing that was way over the top, was the amount of shooting at the end. Even in ghetto policing, that is not nearly as prevalent as shown in this movie and when it does happen, it's usually over a lot quicker than the prolonged gun battle at the end of this movie. But that is typically Hollywood and is inserted to add box office appeal. The basic premise of the film required one or both of the officers to die at the end, but this could have been accomplished in a much briefer space of time. I believe one reason response time was prolonged in the film, is that cops who call for assistance always 'perceive' that it takes forever for help to arrive, even if it is a matter of seconds or a few minutes. Other aspects of the film which have been panned: By my calculations, I made over 15,000 traffic stops in my career and I never had the occupants of a stopped car come-out shooting, as was shown in the opening scene of this film. However, this DOES occasionally happen and footage captured recently on real life police dashboard cams, shows that the scenario looks VERY similar to what was depicted in 'End of Watch'. In another traffic stop scene in the film, a citizen's gun arm is grabbed by a cop, just as he tries to shoot the cop. MANY ghetto cops have grabbed a firearm out of the hands of a hostile citizen. I once grabbed the barrel of a .12 gauge shotgun and deflected it away from me, after walking-up behind a armed citizen who had just shot at his neighbor (it later turned-out this citizen had two prior murder convictions on his rap sheet). As to the scene where Pena takes off his gun to fight an abusive citizen, that also DOES happen occasionally. I know of a FEMALE Detroit cop, who did that and whipped a strapping 22 year old young man, with a big mouth. They teach in the academy never to do this, but Pena's character was a ring boxer, which was revealed in one of the unfortunately deleted scenes. So he was capable of doing things the average cop would not attempt to do. Other negative reviewers of the film resented the fact that cops were portrayed as occasional heroes in the film. I never crawled along the floor of a building engulfed in a raging fire, to save occupants of an apartment building before the Fire Department arrived, but this happened to my partners one night, when I was off. Going-in to a situation like that, with no adequate fire retardant clothing or breathing apparatus is nothing short of heroic and would be like expecting a fireman without a gun to take-on an armed felon. Yes, my partners did that, in a Cass Corridor apartment building and they saved some lives. One of them (Michael T. Walsh), happens to be the son of a Detroit fireman. In short, many of the experts who have condemned this film don't have any idea what they're talking about. My final comment on this, is to all the cop haters and also the chairborne desk jockey types, who never get out on the street and care only about getting promoted. Your reasons for hating this film are obvious. As to the bluenoses who can't stand hearing dirty words in a film, their objections should in no way reflect on whether this film is an accurate depiction of reality, in big city policing. On the contrary, the horrible language is just one more realistic aspect of this film. Patrolling the Cass Corridor of Detroit, in the 70s-80s was very similar. 'End of Watch' has nailed the ghetto policing experience more accurately than any Hollywood film, to date.

Warning: There is strong language used throughout, drug use and gruesome/ violent scenes. There's also racist jokes told between the officers jabbing at each other but I didn't find anything offensive and only humorous. End of Watch is about two young Los Angeles police officers who stumble upon secrets of the Mexican drug cartel which leads them to become the cartel's targets. The leading roles are Officer Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Officer Mike Zavala (Michael Pena), who are partners in the LAPD. The villains of the movie come off as very evil, hateful people. One is even named 'Big Evil' because, well, as he put it, "my evil is big." Although this film is directed by the same man who did 'Training Day', it is nothing like that movie. This film led by Gyllenhaal and Pena shows qualities, between the two, that every officer should have; those being courage, loyalty, and integrity. There is no dirtiness or crookedness about them like with Denzel Washington in 'Training Day'. They are honorable and dedicated to their job and loyal to one another, you can feel the sense of brotherhood between them. I felt like both actors did exceptionally well and gave a realistic/ natural performance. Prior to seeing this I wasn't a Jake Gyllenhaal fan but he won me over in this performance. Throughout the movie you'll see them at the barracks, on the job, and off duty within their personal lives in an attempt to make you feel connected with them on a personal level. The majority of the film is shot from a first person perspective which allows you to see things not only from Officer Zavala and Taylor's POV but also the gang members POV. Different ways the film is recorded include cameras attached to each officer's shirt, handheld camcorders, a dash cam etc. I found it interesting but some people will not like this filming style at all. I'll be completely honest this movie is a tear jerker and it's also one of my all time favorite movies. If you can handle the filming style; you'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll love End of Watch.

This movie is GRIPPING! It is chilling how it is even MORE relevant now than when it was made in 2012! It kept me on the edge of my seat, and I was not tempted to play any phone games! LOL! In my humble opinion, I thought the acting quality was great. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña had wonderful chemistry as partners! The same with Natalie Martinez and Anna Kendrick. They all seem to mesh together and with each other like real-life friends would. I gave it 4 stars because of the gratuitous use of bad language. I mean, come on! If they took out F@*!& , then about a quarter of the dialog would be gone. Really?!?? It'd gotten to be ridiculous. If folks made it a drinking game, a lot of people would have popcorn up their noses from passing out in their bowls after about a half hour. LOL!! Other than that, it was VERY POWERFUL! The ending ABSOLUTELY took me by surprise!

Great movie, but be warned it is rated R for a reason.