Les Jones

A&E > Movies: "We Own the Night" and "The Kingdom"

We had a big adventure Saturday that I'm writing up. Meanwhile, here are some quick notes on first run movies we've seen lately.

We Own the Night - An intergenerational cop drama. Robert Duvall is father to Mark Wahlberg, the good son who became a cop just like his dad, and Joaquin Phoenix, a successful but rudderless nightclub manager whose life intersects with a criminal who turns his world upside down. This isn't a bad movie and it's competently done. The worst thing I can say about it is that it's impossible to believe Phoenix is related to either Duvall or Wahlberg. But while it's not bad, it's not particularly good. If you want a cop movie about loyalty and betrayal starring Mark Wahlberg and a big name cast watch The Departed.

(Incidentally, we caught We Own the Night at Knoxville's new downtown multiplex, the Regal Riviera. It's a nice theater, it's handy for grabbing dinner and a movie downtown, and they have some amazing photos from a bygone era. I didn't realize the Riviera was named after a 1930s downtown theater sited on the same block. The Riviera has an outside escalator that as far as I can tell is the first in Knoxville. The only place I've seen one is the San Diego Zoo.)

The Kingdom - The first few minutes of this movie paint an unnecessary backdrop, outlining the conflict in the Middle East for, uh, people who hadn't heard about 9/11, I guess. Once that's over the movie's pace quickens with a terrorist attack on an American center in Saudi Arabia. The middle act is a political drama in which the investigators try to get access to the attack site and outsmart their handlers to get to the bottom of the attack while the clock ticks. The finale is all action. If you want a Michael Mann action movie starring Jamie Foxx skip Miami Vice and watch this. As a bonus, the Saudi Arabian urban scenery is impressive, and character actor Chris Cooper has a plum role.