Movie Review

As the credits rolled, a friend watching the film said “That didn’t seem like fiction.” I agree. Let me tell you why.

End of Watch has a fairy-tale beginning: Once upon a time in South Central, but it is a far cry from a fairy tale. It’s a buddy-cop film centering on uniformed officers Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Miguel Zavala (Michael Peña), partners working the streets in the tough part of town. They are in high-stress jobs, working on the edge, often forced to use their weapons on the job.

The setup as the movie begins is a city in turmoil: Hispanic gangs are taking over the city from the Black gangs that were ascendant, and the inevitable conflicts are leading to arrests on both sides. Taylor and Zavala are back at work after time-off following a “good” shoot. Zavala is happily married to his high school sweetheart, expecting his first child. Taylor is going to school part-time, with an eye toward law school one day. He is highly intelligent, and looking for the right girl. A project for a film class has him recording the pair’s work on the beat, providing the opportunity to add in some documentary-style (found footage) clips to increase the sense of realism.
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