3/5 stars

End of Watch, is acclaimed screenwriter David Ayer’s newest cop drama, and his first foray into directing. Disappointingly, it fails to live up to its Academy award winning predecessor, Training Day.

We are thrown into suburban Los Angeles, following two buddy cops: Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Mike Zavala (Michael Peña). What begins as everyday  – albeit dangerous –  work soon leads to an entanglement with Mexican drug cartels, leading to ever more challenging circumstances. Unfortunately, this conflict is somewhat underdeveloped, and becomes merely a problem that runs alongside overused cop-movie tropes. Nevertheless, the story on the whole does the job.

End of Watch is oftentimes inconsistent. For the first quarter, the friendship between our two leads seems jarring, with too many ‘dude-bro’ fist-pump exchanges for us to really relate with. But once we get into the main chunk of the film, Gyllenhaal and Pena’s performances shine through, making it easy to forget the occasionally stilted dialogue. Often, however, it cannot be easily forgotten when coming from some of the poorly-acted antagonists, revealing the uneven nature of quality displayed here.

The way the film is shot also seems disjointed. The decision to have a found-footage style of camera – with Taylor creating a film project – can be distracting. It also removes a layer of believability, as all-too-conveniently the drug cartel also has a member of their crew who films events, a perspective that feels forced in to create a continuity of style.

Maybe then, Ayer should have stuck to the writing and involved a tried and tested director to helm the film, who could have seen such discrepancies. Fortunately, it is a testament to his vision that – despite some glaring flaws – is still able to elicit some genuine involvement and emotion from us. It is still one to watch, if only for the performances of Gyllenhaal and Pena alone.

Rachel Jones