We own the night

Two of Hollywood's most bankable names, Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg, star in the story of two brothers on either side of the fence.A hardy street cop (Wahlberg) is tracking down Russian drug peddlers in his brother Bobby's (Phoenix) New York nightclub, and before long the two are at each other's throats. When Bobby is asked to join the cartel as a distributor and with his brother being targeted by his prospective employers, he must choose whether blood is in fact thicker than expensive champagne.Eva Mendez weighs in as the girlfriend caught in the crossfire and Robert Duvall is solid as the weathered police chief father whose favouritism is brought into question when he has to turn to the wayward Bobby to crack the case. It's all riveting action film fodder, but while Scorcese might have told the story at three frames a second, James Gray chooses a more patient artistry. It's never tiresome, and often exhilarating. Not quite the calibre of The Departed, but not too far off.

B+