Everything about this dirty-cop thriller is formulaic and forgettable, even down to its generic title.
"Pride and Glory" could be an uplifting drama about a basketball team breaking racial barriers, or it could be about an elite squadron of World War II fighter pilots. You'd never know the difference, and it wouldn't matter anyway. Instead, it's an overlong saga of good and bad New York police officers battling for control, one that that plays out both in back alleys and quiet suburbs.
Edward Norton and Colin Farrell star as brothers-in-law and brothers in blue. When a cop killer takes down four of their comrades, years of schemes and resentments come bubbling to the surface. It's no secret who's on which side: Norton's Detective Ray Tierney is the honorable one and Farrell's Jimmy Egan, who's married to Ray's sister (Lake Bell), is on the take.
But Ray's older brother, Francis (Noah Emmerich), whose men were killed in the ambush, is also a factor, as is patriarch Francis Tierney Sr. (Jon Voight), the head of the detective division.
These are Irish cops, and just to pile on the cliches, Ray and Jimmy have a climactic, knock-down-drag-out brawl in an Irish bar with Irish music blaring in the background. At Christmas, no less!
If director Gavin O'Connor's film sounds familiar, that's probably because it's a lot like "We Own the Night," which came out almost exactly a year ago. Joaquin Phoenix was the black-sheep brother, Mark Wahlberg was a young police captain on the rise and Robert Duvall was their intimidating, veteran-lawman father.
That movie was just as much of a throwaway, despite its similar pretensions of Greek tragedy.
• In wide release
Additional Information:'Pride and Glory'
Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language and brief drug content
(out of four)
