‘Pride & Glory’ not just any cop action movie

By DAVID MATZ

“Pride and Glory” goes little beyond the call of duty as a typical cop movie.

The film quickly starts after four New York City police officers are murdered while on duty. Detective Ray Tierney (Edward Norton) is pressured by his father Francis (John Voight), the chief of detectives, to investigate the murders. The clues quickly lead him to discover that New York’s own police officers, as well as members of Ray’s family, are the corrupt cops behind the murders. Ray must now decide to whether or not to uphold justice or put family first.

The storyline quickly develops with a twisting plot with little introduction to the characters, which makes it hard to follow at first. The story following both the corrupt police officers and the law-upholding ones leaves no room for uncertainty as to who’s at fault. Instead, Ray’s brothers leave the viewer with the uncertainty of what will be the next move in order to make sure they aren’t caught.

When the film follows Ray’s brothers, the viewers are faced with some very brutal torture scenes and curse-filled dialogue that puts “The Sopranos” to shame.

As Ray’s investigating techniques are by-the-book, opposite of his corrupt family members, the movie illustrates the comparison between the good cop versus bad cop scenarios with ease. The story was able to showcase the women behind the officers, something most cop movies fail to do. Each cop has a family or a wife worried about them, which gave “Pride and Glory” the emotionally touching scenes to the otherwise intense story.

Norton and the rest of the cast were able to present their flawed characters well, but the best part of this cop drama is the multi-leveled intense and emotional storyline. Otherwise, there was nothing prestigious or glorious about “Pride and Glory.”

Nothing made this movie really stick out as anything special, but this stereotypical cop movie is a good investment of time.