Review: 'End of Watch' starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena

It can be argued that David Ayer has been making the same movie for about ten years now. The director has been channeling his experiences growing up on the mean streets of Los Angeles into gritty explorations of police corruption ever since he wrote Denzel Washington's Oscar-winning turn in Training Day. In truth, much of Ayer's work has become a little stagnant. You can only watch the boys in blue go bad so often. End of Watch marks a thrilling and powerful departure with its genuine portrayal of two longtime cop partners who are heroic, flawed human beings first and foremost.

In a sense, End of Watch is Training Day's polar opposite, in particular in the outlook expressed by the two cops at the center of the story. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena are pure testosterone as Officers Brian Taylor and Mike Zavala, who work the toughest beat in crime-infested South Central Los Angeles. They hold no illusions about anything, but unlike many of Ayer's previous protagonists they see their city for its potential. They see the good in the many citizens who strive there every day, and the criminals are the people who keep screwing it up for everyone else.Their unflinching zeal to clean up the streets may be their greatest tragic flaw, but it's also what makes us hope they'll find the success in their personal lives that they never will on the daily grind.

While the "found footage" genre has long since worn out its welcome, Ayer finds a clever use for it to add a level of urgency and up the stakes. Taylor also happens to be taking a pre-law film course, and by hiding a camera from his superiors he records his daily patrol and the many interactions he has with the thugs and drug kingpins littering the city streets. In the process he also documents the minutia of the job, the personal and often humorous exchanges he has with Zavala, and his growing relationship with Janet(Anna Kendrick). The grittier camerawork makes raw the danger of every traffic stop, seen mostly through grainy dashboard cam, and as their enemies begin to mount it almost takes on the texture of a horror movie. Taylor and Zavala's stubbornness eventually gets them into hot water with a Mexican cartel so violent it may be too much for them to handle alone.

Racial stereotypes abound, par for the course in a film such as this, but to his credit Ayer doesn't go too overboard with any of it. Although this is a pretty dark cop drama, Pena and Gyllenhaal add a lot of humor and their chemistry is spot on. The straight forward narrative follows up bursts of violence juxtaposed with scenes of quieter times, and it's at these moments where the film finds true purchase. Kendrick is such an incredible actress that you wish she had a little more to do other than be Gyllenhaal's love interest. She's perfectly fine like much of the supporting cast is, but they are overshadowed by how good Gyllenhaal and Pena are. Pena's an actor who has been knocking on the door to greatness for a long time, and I think with his performance here he kicks the door down once and for all. As Zavala, he perfectly embodies a lifelong Angeleno who very well could've ended up like the gang bangers he pursues every day. He has the insight of a man who now has everything with a wife and newborn child, and fights to maintain the life which he has built.

Ayer is certainly reinvigorated by the material, and while the "found footage" scenes are a definite plus, he goes a little overboard during the action sequences. Those with motion sickness need not apply. It makes sense that a handheld cam would go totally off-the-wall while in the thick of a shootout, but it can be jarring to watch. It becomes more noticeable when we jump to the smaller, more personal moments which are shot more traditionally.

Small complaints aside, End of Watch features a pair of unforgettable lead performances giving a rare insight into the world of those who protect and serve. These men and women are heroes, and it's refreshing to see them actually portrayed as such.