Entertaining But Confusing 'Broken City'

In spite of bad reviews, I found Broken City quite entertaining, particularly if you're a Mark Wahlberg fan. The problem with this flick is that the writer Brian Tucker and director Allen Hughes (The Book of Eli, From Hell) are trying too hard. They make the audience work their brains out and we still can't figure out what the sub-plots mean at the end of the movie. In fact, my friends and I have concluded that some of the sub-plots are just superfluous.

Without being a spoiler, the Police Commissioner Carl Fairbanks (played by Jeffrey Wright) is totally confusing. You never know until the end which side is he playing with. While the hot Natalie Martinez (CSI New York) is still sexy playing Wahlberg's girlfriend, the story line around her is kind of weak. It's not even convincing that they've been together for seven years.

Then, there are the four principal characters: Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Barry Pepper. Wahlberg, as usual, plays a damaged former cop trying to fight the bad guys under any circumstances. As I've posted before, Wahlberg needs to take a break on this kind of character trail and should maybe try playing an evil guy. But he continues to produce and perform such roles as the alcoholic Billy Taggart in this movie. While women like to see him taking his shirt off - he did it again in this one - this kind of character just doesn't earn him additional respect. Wahlberg is one of the hottest producers now as both Entourage and Boardwalk Empire are hugely popular. But he needs to break new ground by trying a different genre soon.

There's no actress nowadays that is as glamorous and as good with acting as Catherine Zeta-Jones. There's no doubt that she's done some face work, but even though you can detect those flaws on her face, she's still drop-dead movie-star gorgeous in every scene!

Having just come out of a terrible role at Les Miserables (I meant he literally can't sing), Russell Crowe is actually quite convincing as the crooked mayor of New York, Mayor Hostetler. But it bothers me that except for Canadian actor Barry Pepper who plays Jack Valliant, and perhaps Wahlberg, none of the principal characters seemed to be making any effort in putting on a New York or even American accent. And this is just plain sloppiness! Pepper who played Robert Kennedy in the TV drama The Kennedys,
is so strong an actor that he's mesmerizing in every role he plays including this one.

If you like the principal actors and don't mind being confused every now and then, you will find Broken City entertaining.