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Rated: 18
Genre: Drama, crime thriller
Running Time: 109 minutes
Director: Allen Hughes
Writer: Brian Tucker
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones
Synopsis: "In a broken city rife with injustice, ex-cop Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) seeks redemption and revenge after being double-crossed and then framed by its most powerful figure, the mayor (Russell Crowe). Billy's relentless pursuit of justice, matched only by his streetwise toughness, makes him an unstoppable force and the mayor's worst nightmare" (GSC).
Verdict: The local distributor of the film could never have chose a better time to release this political drama thriller here. Broken City is one of those that are neither unconventional, realistic, flawlessly written nor entirely unwatchable. Although the movie's not cinema-worthy, I thought the critics may have been a bit too harsh with this one. Sure, the ending's predictable from the very start. Sure, it has a few laughable moments (refer to spoiler section below). But it's still quite fun to watch these big names playing cliched or minor roles and doing cheesy dialogues together.
Second opinion: "It's very interesting and engaging; I liked it" (girlfriend).
Malaysian censorship: Only the sex scene was cut. All vulgarities were intact. So why couldn't Olympus Has Fallen's vulgarities be left uncut like this one? I'm beginning to sense that even the whole censorship business here follows our Prime Minister's motto: "You help me, I help you."
Rating: 2.5 / 5
[SPOILER SECTION BEGINS HERE]----------------------------------------------------------------
The dumbest scene: Billy (Mark Walhberg) stopped drinking for 7 years for his girlfriend but starts again right after watching her debut movie that contains a sex scene involving her and her co-actor. He accuses his girlfriend for being disloyal, gets drunk and starts vandalising and beating people he come across on the streets. When he gets a call about a serious matter, he sobers up immediately.
Yet another film that... indirectly implies that alcohol consumption gets people doing the right thing.
Another laughable scene: Billy goes looking for answers and evidence at the back of the bad guy's accomplice's place, and finds them in the FIRST garbage box he searches. He then looks through the mirror and sees them shredding documents. So that means it just so happens that they shred everything except the evidence that Billy is looking for, and dump them right outside where it can be easily gotten. AND THEN they start chasing after him, wreck up his car and takes back the evidence WITHOUT killing him when they had the chance.
