Would Broken
City be a half way decent movie if all the sub plots that have nothing or
little to do with the central story were removed? The answer is no. Broken City has several problems and on
their own, none them by themselves are necessarily fatal to the film’s effectiveness
but when they are mixed in with one another, the result is appropriate given the
film’s title: broken. Above all else, Broken
City wants to say loud and clear how corrupt politicians, particularly
those of city politics, can be. It is successful in being loud as it puts a lot
of energy into the foul play of New York City Mayor Nicholas Hostetler (Russell
Crowe) making for a despicable character but is far from being clear with the
several sub plots going on and eventually nowhere. On top of the messy story is
the weak character in the form of the films protagonist, private detective
Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg). Billy is supposed to be character that is out
for redemption and represents ‘the good man’ but when he isn’t underwritten
(like he is for the majority of the film), he is a total drama queen. Let me
give you an example of this and how ridiculous Broken City can be at times: when Billy sees his girlfriend, an
actress, having sex in a movie, he becomes extremely angry with her and gives
up several years of sobriety as he finds the closet bar and begins to throws
back drink after drink. Your probably wondering how that fits into the central
plot. Well, let me just say, that makes two of us.
Grade: D+
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