Pride and Glory: 2-Disc Digital Copy Special Edition Directed By: Gavin O'Connor Starring: Colin Farrell, Edward Norton, Jon Voight, Noah Emmerich, Jennifer Ehle, John Ortiz, Frank Grillo, Shea Whigham, Lake Bell Studio: Warner Brothers Year: 2008 Rated: R Film Length: 130 minutes Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish Release Date: January 27, 2009 The Film Pride and Glory is an action-drama about a family of New York City Police Officers. Edward Norton plays Ray Tierney, a bright and well-respected officer who has taken himself off of the streets after an unsettling experience years before which is revealed gradually as the film progresses. At the pleading of his father, Francis (Voight), he agrees to come back from his desk job to lead an investigation into the shooting of four officers by a drug dealer named Angel Tezo (Rodriguez). The officers were part of the 31st precinct for which Ray's brother, Francis, Jr. (Emmerich), is the commanding officer and in which their sister's husband, Jimmy Egan (Farrell) also serves. What Ray does not know is that Jimmy is the ringleader of a gang of crooked cops who were taking money from drug dealers, and that the shooting was a botched attempt to execute a rival drug dealer. As Ray and Jimmy race to track down Tezo they find themselves on a collision course that will test the bonds of family and professional fraternity. Pride and Glory takes the gritty NYC cop genre popularized by the likes of Sidney Lumet and, well, does not really add much to it. The elements are all pretty familiar, and anyone who has seen films involving big city institutional corruption and/or the fraternal code of silence amongst police officers will be on familiar ground. Familiarity is not necessarily a fatal flaw, as the elements of familial attachment, loyalty, and betrayal are the stuff of classical drama. Where Pride and Glory falls short is in its inability to present these elements with an interesting stylistic spin or to deliver a payoff that lives up to the promise of the operatic tragedy built up through the film's first two acts. It would be difficult to dissect exactly what is wrong with the film's final act without revealing spoilers, so I will not go there. I will let the ending itself spoil Pride and Glory the way the filmmakers intended. Prior to that, the film does do a pretty good job of turning the screws of suspense. Director Gavin O'Connor opts to let the viewer in on the real nature of what went down early in the proceedings. Knowing that Norton's character is unwittingly at cross-purposes with his brother-in-law informs otherwise innocuous character establishing scenes such as a family Christmas dinner with a subtextual dread. As familiar as most elements of the film felt, I have to admit that there was at least one scene where I saw something I have not seen before. It involves Farrell's dirty cop character threatening another character's family member in a severe way that pretty much erases any sympathy that audience member's may have developed for his predicament prior to that point. This is a specific example of a more general problem that robs the story of some of its potential as tragedy. The character of Jimmy is such an unrepentant scumbag, that he has no credible inner turmoil and exists as little more than a device to make his in-laws miserable. Farrell at times tries to suggest some minor regrets through his performance, but he is working against the script which will not allow his character to be interesting. The film is very well cast from top to bottom, with some very interesting supporting performances from lesser known actors. Norton, Farrell, Voight, and Emmerich prove to be excellent foils for each other, and Jennifer Ehle gives a particularly fine performance in the somewhat thankless role of Francis Jr.'s cancer stricken wife. The Video The widescreen transfer fills the entire 16:9 enhanced frame. The film is purposely shot to look steely, gritty, and grainy. Due to the frequent use of cool blue filtering and the way the exposure is pushed on many of the darkest scenes resulting in significant coarse film grain (Think James Cameron's Aliens), no video presentation of this film is ever likely to be considered "reference quality". With that in mind, the DVD presentation represents the film well, with minimal digital artifacts (usually a result of the heavy grain giving the compression algorithm fits), infrequent but noticeable low intensity ringing along high contrast edges, and a few minor bits of aliasing that will only be noticeable with critical viewing. The Audio The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is a fine home representation of a very active theatrical surround mix. The 5.1 sound field is used to create an immersive three-dimensional environment, and is used most aggressively in scenes with complimentary visual styles including a lot of handheld work and whip-pans. Fidelity is good throughout. The Extras While containing no special features related to the film itself, when Disc One is first spun-up, the viewer is greeted with a series of skippable promos. All are presented in 4:3 video, letterboxed when appropriate, with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound unless indicated otherwise below:- Anti-piracy PSA with scenes from Casablanca(1:00)
- Warner Blu-Ray Promo (Dolby Digital 5.1 sound - 1:09)
- Video Game Trailer for Project Origin (2:11)
- DVD/BD Trailer for RocknRolla (:31)
- Theatrical Trailer for Watchmen (2:21)
- Anti-Smoking PSA comparing smokers to lab rats (:34)
