Pride and Glory

This adequate thriller centers on a family of New York cops and pits brothers against each other. Emotionally and physically scarred detective Ray (Edward Norton) learns that his uniformed brother-in-law Jimmy (Colin Farrell overdoing a Noo Yawk accent) heads a group of dirty cops. The family patriarch (Jon Voight) is a respected captain who drinks a little too much but is devoted to the job. When a murder investigation uncovers facts that make it impossible for Ray to ignore Jimmy’s crime, Ray takes him down in a bloody street brawl. Pride and Glory’s profanity-spewing characters aren’t as well drawn as those on TV’s The Shield, but fans of such raw, gutsy fare will be suitably entertained.

Shelf Talk: Corrupt-cop movies have been the rage for quite a few years, and 2008 saw the release of no less than three big-budget, A-list examples of the genre. Pride and Glory, the most recent of the trio, is better than the ludicrous Righteous Kill but about on par with We Own the Night, to which it bears more than a slight resemblance. Play off the genre’s popularity and exploit the presence of Norton and Farrell.