We Own the Night
Encyclopedia
We Own the Night is a 2007 American crime drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 written and directed by James Gray
James Gray (film director)
James Gray is an American film director and screenwriter.-Life and career:Gray was born in New York City of Russian Jewish descent. His father was once an electronics contractor...

 and starring Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Rafael Phoenix , formerly credited as Leaf Phoenix, is an American film actor. He was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and his family returned to the continental United States four years later...

, Mark Wahlberg
Mark Wahlberg
Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg is an American actor, film and television producer, and former rapper. He was known as Marky Mark in his earlier years, and became famous for his 1991 debut as a musician with the band Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. He was named No. 1 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of...

, Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes is an American actress.She began acting in the late 1990s, and after a series of minor roles and performances in several smaller films such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror and Urban Legends: Final Cut , she broke into the mainstream, appearing in leading roles in Hollywood...

 and Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....

. It is the third film directed by Gray, and the second film to feature Phoenix and Wahlberg together, the first being The Yards
The Yards
The Yards is a 2000 American crime film with Mark Wahlberg, James Caan, Joaquin Phoenix, and Charlize Theron, written and directed by James Gray...

. The film's title comes from the motto of the NYPD
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department , established in 1845, is currently the largest municipal police force in the United States, with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City...

's Street Crimes Unit, which disbanded in 2002.

The film premiered May 25, at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
2007 Cannes Film Festival
The 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the sixtieth, ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights opened the festival, and Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance closed...

. It was released October 12, 2007 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It was released in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 on December 14, 2007 and was released in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 on February 28, 2008.

Plot

The film is set in Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

 from November 1988 through early April 1989. Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Rafael Phoenix , formerly credited as Leaf Phoenix, is an American film actor. He was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and his family returned to the continental United States four years later...

) is the manager of a successful El Caribe nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...

 in Brighton Beach
Brighton Beach
Brighton Beach is an oceanside neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. As of 2000, it has a population of 75,692 with a total of 31,228 households.-Location:...

 that is frequented by Russian gangster and drug lord Vadim Nezhinski (Alex Veadov
Alex Veadov
Alex Veadov is an American film and television actor.-Life and work:Since the late 1980s the actor Alex Veadov aka Oleg Flyshecker, who is of Caucasian descent, appeared in TV movies, -series and feature films. Alex Veadov also spoke characters in some computer and video games...

) and owned by Vadim's uncle and Bobby's boss, Marat Buzhayev.

Bobby has distanced himself from his police deputy chief father Burt Grusinsky (Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....

) and his police captain brother Joseph Grusinsky (Mark Wahlberg
Mark Wahlberg
Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg is an American actor, film and television producer, and former rapper. He was known as Marky Mark in his earlier years, and became famous for his 1991 debut as a musician with the band Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. He was named No. 1 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of...

) and changed his last name to the maiden name of his mother, Carol Green, preferring to remain on the sidelines and enjoy a hedonistic life with his girlfriend Amada Juarez (Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes is an American actress.She began acting in the late 1990s, and after a series of minor roles and performances in several smaller films such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror and Urban Legends: Final Cut , she broke into the mainstream, appearing in leading roles in Hollywood...

) and best friend Louis "Jumbo" Falsetti (Danny Hoch
Danny Hoch
Danny Hoch is an American writer, director and performance artist. He has acted in larger roles in independent and art house movies and had a few small roles in mainstream Hollywood films, with increasing exposure as in 2007's We Own the Night...

). When police forces led by Joseph make a raid on Bobby's nightclub on November 22, 1988, hoping to net Vadim, Bobby refuses to cooperate. The incident strains his relationship with his father and brother even more, to the point that he and Joseph exchange blows and insult each other's significant other (for Bobby, it is Amada, and for Joseph, it is his wife Sandra).

The police are unsuccessful in capturing Vadim, who decides to retaliate. At 5:43 pm on the evening of November 23, 1988, Joseph is shot by a masked assailant, and his unmarked police cruiser firebombed. Joseph survives the ambush, but the extent of the injury requires him to be hospitalized for four months. Bobby visits his brother in the hospital and realizes that he actually cares about what happened to his brother and father. He resolves to help his father and the police. Despite Burt's apprehension, Bobby goes undercover inside Vadim's drug-smuggling operation. Bobby and Amada are placed under constant police protection and their relationship begins to deteriorate.

On March 20, 1989, Vadim escapes custody while being transported to a hospital. The police prepare to move Bobby and Amada to a new location. During a blinding thunderstorm, the police convoy is intercepted by Vadim's men and, during a chaotic car chase, Burt is fatally shot. Bobby passes out in the rain when he sees his father's body. The police take Bobby and Amada back to a Sheraton Hotel near Kennedy Airport. He wakes up a few hours later and finds Joseph in the hotel room. After Joseph tells him that Burt died, Bobby cries in Joseph's arms and asks how "they" found them. At the funeral, which is attended by all of the officers and their families, a colleague of Joseph's, Captain Jack Shapiro, gives him Burt's Korean War medal and informs him that they will find a Russian shipment that is coming in sometime in the next week.

To avenge his father, Bobby decides to officially join the police force without the consent of Amada, who leaves him. After he is sworn into the NYPD, during which scenes are shown of him getting a picture taken in a police uniform, Bobby and Joseph work together to organize a final sting operation, set for April 4, 1989. During the raid, Joseph is emotionally incapacitated by the memory of his shooting and cannot continue on. Vadim flees into the reed beds and the police begin to smoke it. As the officers try and stop Bobby, he ignores their pleas and goes in, looking for Vadim. He finally sees him and shoots him down. Vadim looks up and utters "Bobby", and curses him with his last breath as Bobby stands over him.

The film ends on November 3, 1989, nearly a year after the film's opening, with Bobby graduating from the NYPD Police Academy to become a full-time police officer, just in time for the 1990s. Before the ceremony, Joseph reveals to Bobby that he has decided to switch to a job in the administration sector, since the shooting made him think about how much he needs to spend more time with his three children (in the beginning, it was two). As the chaplain announces that Bobby is to give the valedictory speech, Bobby thinks he sees Amada in the audience, but it turns out to be an illusion. The film closes with Bobby and Joseph expressing their brotherly love for each other.

Cast

  • Joaquin Phoenix
    Joaquin Phoenix
    Joaquin Rafael Phoenix , formerly credited as Leaf Phoenix, is an American film actor. He was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and his family returned to the continental United States four years later...

     as Robert "Bobby" Green/Grusinsky
  • Mark Wahlberg
    Mark Wahlberg
    Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg is an American actor, film and television producer, and former rapper. He was known as Marky Mark in his earlier years, and became famous for his 1991 debut as a musician with the band Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. He was named No. 1 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of...

     as Captain Joseph "Joe" Grusinsky
  • Eva Mendes
    Eva Mendes
    Eva Mendes is an American actress.She began acting in the late 1990s, and after a series of minor roles and performances in several smaller films such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror and Urban Legends: Final Cut , she broke into the mainstream, appearing in leading roles in Hollywood...

     as Amada Juarez
  • Robert Duvall
    Robert Duvall
    Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....

     as Deputy Chief Albert "Burt" Grusinsky
  • Alex Veadov
    Alex Veadov
    Alex Veadov is an American film and television actor.-Life and work:Since the late 1980s the actor Alex Veadov aka Oleg Flyshecker, who is of Caucasian descent, appeared in TV movies, -series and feature films. Alex Veadov also spoke characters in some computer and video games...

     as Vadim Nezhinski
  • Dominic Colon as Freddie
  • Danny Hoch
    Danny Hoch
    Danny Hoch is an American writer, director and performance artist. He has acted in larger roles in independent and art house movies and had a few small roles in mainstream Hollywood films, with increasing exposure as in 2007's We Own the Night...

     as Louis "Jumbo" Falsetti
  • Oleg Taktarov
    Oleg Taktarov
    Oleg Nikolaevich Taktarov is a retired Russian mixed martial artist and actor. He is a practitioner of Sambo and Judo and has competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pride Fighting Championships. Taktarov was the UFC 6 tournament champion and holds notable wins over Marco Ruas and David...

     as Pavel Lubyarski
  • Moni Moshonov
    Moni Moshonov
    -Biography:Shlomo Moshonov was born in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1951. He immigrated to Israel with his family at the age of four.His father, Moshe, who studied law in Sofia, sold textiles in the Ramla market. Moshonov grew up in Ramla. He did his military service in an IDF entertainment troupe...

     as Marat Buzhayev
  • Antoni Corone
    Antoni Corone
    Antoni Corone is an American actor and producer who lives in Hollywood, Florida.He was raised in Willoughby and Wickliffe, Ohio. When character player Corone launched his screen career in the mid-1980s, producers immediately foresaw a perfect niche for him, and started casting him as rugged,...

     as Lieutenant Michael Solo
  • Craig Walker
    Craig Walker
    Craig Stewart Walker is a Canadian writer, theatre director, actor and educator.Walker graduated from Bayview Secondary School and afterwards, began his career in the theatre as an actor with the Stratford Festival, the Shaw Festival and the National Arts Centre of Canada and other companies. ...

     as Russell De Keifer
  • Tony Musante
    Tony Musante
    Anthony Peter Musante is an American actor.Musante was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Natalie Anne , a school teacher, and Anthony Peter Musante, an accountant. He attended Oberlin College and Northwestern University.Musante has acted in numerous feature films, in the United States...

     as Captain Jack Shapiro
  • Yelena Solovey
    Yelena Solovey
    Yelena Solovey is a Soviet film actress. She has appeared in 45 films since 1966. She won the award for Best Supporting Actress in the film Faktas at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival.-Selected filmography:* Faktas...

     as Kalina Buzhayev
  • Coati Mundi
    Coati Mundi
    Coati Mundi is the stage name of American musician Andy Hernandez, percussionist, notably playing the vibraphone, and member of Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, then of Kid Creole and the Coconuts. He scored the Top 40 UK hit "Me No Pop I" in 1981, just before the release of Tropical Gangsters...

     as Himself


Former New York Mayor Ed Koch
Ed Koch
Edward Irving "Ed" Koch is an American lawyer, politician, and political commentator. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and three terms as mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989...

 made a cameo as himself.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. As of May 2009 on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

, 55% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 133 reviews. On Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

, the film had an average score of 59 out of 100, based on 33 reviews.

In its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, the film grossed $10.8 million in 2,362 theaters, ranking #3 at the box office. The film grossed a total of $54.5 million worldwide — $28.5 million in the United States and Canada and $26.0 million in other territories.

The film was a commercial success in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, since Sony Pictures only paid $11 million for the rights to distribute this film. Sony Pictures released this film through their division, Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...

.

The film has been a hit in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

DVD market, as it has brought in more than $22 million in DVD sales and more than $32 million in DVD rentals.
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