Broken City

Synopsis: “In a city rife with injustice, ex-cop Billy Taggart seeks redemption and revenge after being double-crossed and then framed by its most powerful figure: Mayor Nicholas Hostetler.” (Rated R; 1 hour 49 minutes)

Am I the only person in the world to have watched the  recently canceled Starz network show Boss, starring Kelsey Grammer? I think it’s a safe bet since I was sad to see it go due to low ratings (and good reviews), but I kept thinking of the show during this better-than-you expect thriller. (I say better-than-you’d expect because it’s released in January’s dumping-grounds, where movies generally get put when the studios lose faith that they’ll be received with any critical respect.)

In Boss, Kelsey Grammer plays a super corrupt and powerful mayor of Chicago, and one of the main things he’s trying to build is this huge housing development which would improve the city; but many objections come forward about it screwing the poor population that lives there, and it being about profit and self-gain for the mayor. Umm, read what I just wrote except insert the name Russell Crowe instead of Kelsey Grammer, and New York City instead of Chicago, otherwise…identical!

And here’s the extra kicker that I won’t get into since it WOULD be a spoiler: There’s a whole important plot development and twist which happens in the movie that is ALSO exactly the same as in the show! In Boss there are people campaigning and running for senator and something major happens with one of the camps both personally and professionally; literally the exact same thing happens here with the characters who are campaigning and running against the incumbent mayor. It was uncanny, and clearly it appears one has ripped off the other!

And no, they didn’t do it better in 2 hours than Boss managed to do in 2 short seasons. It was somewhat predictable, it was not original in any real way, and the acting was all…fine. But in spite of that, it was all done solidly enough that it should interest most viewers, and Mark Wahlberg was an interesting protagonist, far more complex and flawed than you expect your “hero” to be in a movie like this.

As with Parker, it also suffered from a side-plot with a girl which didn’t really go anywhere, but here it was less in the way of the story and took up less space too, and at least I could see that they were trying to help develop his character in doing so.

There was an interesting mayoral debate in the movie at one point, which Josh Baron pointed out was surprisingly well done. It suffered from one of the most annoying complaints I have about movies: The previews gave away too much of the plot. I hate seeing movies and realizing halfway through that the plot hasn’t turned yet and you know what WILL happen since you saw it 3 times in the preview! But the overall tone of the movie was good, and it was well paced and intriguing, even if predictable, and overall unoriginal.

The movie was better than My Fellow Americans, a dumb comedy about politicians from years ago, but wasn’t as good as The Ides of March, a political and twisty drama which I think had more originality than this one.

Quality Rating: C (If I hadn’t seen Boss I may rate it a notch higher, but that affects my judgment of it too darn much)

Boaz Rating: B-