Film Review: "End of Watch" (2012).

"They were the city's top guns, until one discovery made them the cartel's most wanted." This is End of Watch. This action thriller film written and directed by David Ayer. Longtime LAPD partners and friends, Brian Taylor and Mike Zavala patrol one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Though they may bend the rules, their honor and dedication to the job are unquestioned. Taylor and Zavala always have each other's back, even if Taylor's surreptitious filming of their daily activities for a college course is a bit ill-advised. All hell breaks loose for the officers when they run afoul of a vicious Mexican cartel.

Ayer grew up in South Central Los Angeles and has had numerous friends in the LAPD. He had written several films previously about police officers in Los Angeles, but while these depicted rogue and corrupt officers, he wanted to feature honest, ethical police work in End of Watch. In contrast to his previous works, Ayer wanted to focus on the friendship between Taylor and Zavala. In December 2010, Ayer wrote the screenplay over six days. Jaime FitzSimons, a longtime friend of Ayer and a former police officer with the LAPD, served as the film's technical advisor, and his experiences from working in Los Angeles inspired several plot points of the film. Jake Gyllenhaal was the first to be cast in the film; after receiving the script, he read it in an hour and immediately accepted. Michael Peña was cast shortly after, following a string of auditions. By August 2011, Anna Kendrick, Natalie Martinez, Frank Grillo, America Ferrera, Cody Horn, David Harbour, and Shondrella Avery rounded out the film's cast. Gyllenhaal and Peña did not bond immediately but gradually became close friends over the process of training and filming. Gyllenhaal and Peña undertook five months of intensive training under the guidance of FitzSimons to prepare for their roles. Tactical training was also given to Harbour, Ferrera, Horn, and Grillo. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and took place over twenty-two days throughout South Central Los Angeles. The film was shot in a combination of found footage style and traditional photography. Most scenes were captured by four cameras simultaneously: six of these included a handheld camera operated by Gyllenhaal, cameras clipped to Gyllenhaal and Peña's vests, and dashboard footage from their patrol car. Some scenes were shot entirely by Gyllenhaal.

The film stars Gyllenhaal, Peña, Kendrick, Martinez, Grillo, Ferrera, Horn, Harbour, and Avery. The cast gave amazing performances, with Gyllenhaal and Peña truly made you believe in these down-to-earth yet over-the-top characters. However, as a character study, the film somewhat lacked characterization, and it's a bit predictable to be an effective cautionary tale.

A crazy little film, modest in its scope but grand in its ambition. It paints it's story in loud primary colors, with intense pressure cooker characterizations. A film that seems gritty and pointless for its first third, begins to grow in meaning as the pointlessness snowballs into absurdity and then tragedy.

Simon says End of Watch receives: