Force Fed Films: We Own the Night (2007)

For my final entry into the Force Fed Film category, I was really sure that Puneet would finally make all his threats a reality, and make me watch House of Wax, but in the end he was merciful and instead gave me a film with one of my most hated actors, Mark Wahlberg. That movie was We Own the Night, and it also stars Joaquin Phoenix, Eva Mendes and Robert Duvall. The simple addition of Eva Mendes made me think that maybe this movie wouldn't be so bad, as I've got a bit of a thing for her. Was this movie just another Mark Wahlberg crap show, an Eva Mendes gawking party, or a serious crime drama starring Joaquin Phoenix? Hit the jump to find out.


The story here is about two brothers. Their father (Robert Duvall) is a police officer, but only one of the brothers followed in his footsteps. While Joseph (Mark Wahlberg) went into the police force and became highly decorated, Bobby (Joaquin Phoenix) has become the head manager of a hugely successful nightclub. Bobby also doesn't get along very well with his family, and no one except his girlfriend (Eva Mendes) knows his family is almost all cops. Unfortunately, it looks like the next big drug importer, with ties to the Russian mob, is starting to work out of Bobby's club, meaning their worlds are going to start crashing together quite violently. One thing for certain, the Russian mob isn't going to be very happy. Can they survive the ensuing conflict?

Eva Mendes and Joaquin Phoenix looking good at the club

The movie starts off really great as far as I'm concerned, with a hot and heavy scene of Eva Mendes getting all sexy and some partial nudity. Besides that very first opening scene though, it was a pretty slow movie to get going and introduce all the characters. Actually, the more I think about it, the story was moving along, but it just wasn't all that super interesting. It was necessary though, because we needed to know who the old guy was that actually owned the club, and how Bobby felt like he was more of a father figure than his own father. Those types of relationships needed to be established, but it wasn't really until the police actually started moving in on the club that I really started to take notice of the film.

This also may be a strange side note, but I'm not sure I get the meaning of the title of the film. Was it supposed to be about the club going lifestyle? Was it the mobsters, drug dealers and crime lords? Or was it the cops who can bust in and do whatever the want? The title kind of works for all the groups in the movie, so I was a little lost on that at the end. I think someone just thought of a cool sounding title, but didn't really care how it fit the movie in this case. I'm sure it probably happens a lot.

Joaquin Phoenix has a problem with Marky Mark getting in his movie too

I liked the acting and the characters in this. Joaquin Phoenix was a good lead and I bought into his character. Eva Mendes was also great, but really she only seemed to be there to look good, as she seemed to have no bearing on the plot at all, but she did look really good! I was dreading seeing Mark Wahlberg in this movie, but luckily he's actually not in it that much, so he has much less chance to screw it up. Thankfully, the small amount of time he was in the film, he actually wasn't bad at all, and by the end, for the first time ever, I forgot I was watching Marky Mark on the screen, and I was only seeing the character he was supposed to be playing. Good job Marky Mark, you didn't fuck it up!

The last point I want to make was about the action. While there wasn't a lot of it, there was one car chase sequence a little after the half-way point of the movie which was really intense. One of the things I picked up on was the sounds. There was no music, save for this steady rhythmic thumping that not only sounded a bit like a beating heart for the whole thing, but also mostly matched the windshield wipers of the car. The chase takes place in the pouring rain, and it's coming down so hard, it's hard to see out of the car you're in for the duration of the sequence. It really drove the tension through the roof for me because you want to know what's going on in the other cars, but you can only see what little you can see through the windows and the rain, and you can only hear that constant sound of the windshield wipers and your own pounding heart. Great stuff!

I enjoyed Joaquin Phoenix's performance. Is he still crazy or did he get over that?

I'm not entirely sure I would recommend We Own the Night. While I pretty much only praised it here, the story was only "OK" and most of the things that happened were predictable. There were a few good moments and action beats, but the rest of it was a little slow. It wasn't a bad film, but I think it'll simply prove to be forgettable as time goes forward. I saw it on Netflix Canada at my friend's house, so if you're curious, you can check it out there. It's probably on the American Netflix too as that has a larger selection of films. Again, not a bad film, and it did the job of entertaining us. That car chase alone might make it worth watching.



Well, that was the last Force Fed Film, so I'd just like to say a little something extra. There were plenty of movies Puneet made me watch that I would have never thought to watch myself, and several of those are among some of the best movies I saw this year. I strongly recommend playing some kind of game like this with your friends. Even if it's just once a month, agree with a friend to pick a movie you know the other hasn't seen that you think they really should watch, and promise to watch it. So many times in my life, I've had a friend tell me "You have to see this movie!" Out of politeness you'll usually say you'll check it out at some point, but more often than not you either forget, or just never get around to it.

You never know what you might be missing out on, so give it a shot, and hopefully you'll find some gems that you may otherwise have never gotten around to seeing! Personally, if it wasn't for these "Force Fed Film" segments on the blog, I never would have seen Cool Hand Luke and thus found Paul Newman; I never would have seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall which is one of my favorite comedies ever; I also never would have seen Gandhi, which as of today, is still holding my "Best movie I've seen this year" spot. Thank you Puneet, for all the good, and even bad, movies you forced me to watch this year!