Wow! What a surprise!  I entered the movie theater with no expectations whatsoever, didn’t even watch the trailer.  I saw some good reviews in Rotten Tomatoes and that it was from the director of Training Day.   That was enough for me to watch it.  I came away pleasantly surprised!  Jake Gyllenhaal and Mike Peña do an awesome job as two cops that form a rather unique friendship that transcends their jobs and ventures in to  their personal world.     Much like Training Day, the movie gives you a sense of tension that has you at the edge of your seat for most of the two hours that it lasts.

The plot centers around two cops who get a new district assigned to cover their watch.   As they travel around the area they get calls to attend emergencies, shootings, hit and runs and other felonies.  As we get from job to job we get to see what kind of relationship these two guys have often making you laugh out loud with their hilarious somewhat light comments about each other’s racial descent.   Love the “white and Mexican things they do, its funny as hell.   Most of the film is done as though they we’re filming a documentary which I still find it odd, specially when you get the point of view of the villains and the director kept filming it that way.  Couldn’t find a reason why the criminals were recording their crimes.   This is a hit or miss aspect of the movie that many will complaint or love.  I was sitting in the front row of the movie theater and was kind of uncomfortable with all the movement the camera had.

The movie moves fast and centers around the relationship between the two cops.   Jake and Mike do a superb job in their roles quickly immersing you in their friendship and making every tough moment tough for the audience as well as you don’t want them to get hurt.    All the secondary characters are brilliantly presented and even the more cheesy characters are very genuine.   Overall I’ll rate this movie only behind Moonrise Kingdom and The Dark Knight Rising in my list of favorite movies of the year.    Its a great movie that shouldn’t be missed.

SCORE 9.0 out of 10.0