“End of Watch”

Ratings

4 of 5 stars
What’s this?

Released earlier this year to little fanfare, writer and director David Ayer’s latest foray into the world of Los Angeles police officers is now available for streaming. When I first saw the trailer in theaters, it struck me as predictable and hackneyed stuff, but I watched it on a friend’s recommendation and I was pleasantly surprised — shocked a little, even — by how incredibly riveting and emotionally gripping it is.

It’s well worth noting too that Ayer, whose credits include “Training Day,” “Dark Blue” and “Street Kings,” among others, is assembling a remarkable body of work about the brutal underside of Los Angeles cops and the gangland territories they police. None of his films has been perfect, but they are all brutally revealing and fascinating, at the very least. Aside from “Training Day,” his efforts are hugely underrated and seem more likely to be appreciated decades from now, with the luxury of hindsight — but almost every one of them is well worth watching today.

“End of Watch” is available in the U.S. on Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.

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3 Comments

  1. Luke Jones

    You don’t say whether you enjoyed it or not. I found it frustrating to watch. Bad decision after bad decision, plus inconsistent handheld photography.

    The film was sold as a Љfound footage’ cop drama, but the use of photography was all over the place.

    I kind of enjoyed it, but overall is seemed like LAPD propaganda.

  2. Steven Hoober

    “to little fanfare” is interesting to me. I know a lot of cops and similar, and it was a big deal to them.

    Most interesting comments from many is that they think it’s critically important to see. Once. To police, especially in any big city, sorta hard to watch (most “bad decisions” are things they can . Oh, and they now know to never show it to their wives.

    I do agree they should have tossed the found-footage thing since they left it behind after a bit anyway.

  3. mark

    @Luke ” I watched it on a friend’s recommendation and I was pleasantly surprised — shocked a little, even — by how incredibly riveting and emotionally gripping it is.”

    ..sounds like a favorable opinion.

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