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Broken City

Play trailer Poster for Broken City R Released Jan 18, 2013 1h 48m Crime Drama Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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26% Tomatometer 152 Reviews 40% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings
Former cop Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) sees a chance at redemption for past sins when New York City's Mayor Nicolas Hostetler (Russell Crowe) calls on him for a special job. Hostetler thinks his wife, Cathleen (Catherine Zeta-Jones), is having an affair and that it may hurt his chances for re-election. However, a bigger scandal than expected pulls in Billy right at the start of his investigation. Double-crossed by the mayor, Billy begins a relentless quest for justice.
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Broken City

Broken City

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Critics Consensus

Broken City's thinly sketched, formulaic script offers meager rewards for all but the least demanding noir aficionados.

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Critics Reviews

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Wesley Morris Grantland It's a local-government corruption thriller that doesn't care about logic or consistency or the people watching it. Jan 6, 2014 Full Review Donald Clarke Irish Times Wahlberg and Crowe. Together at last. So overwhelming. Can't breathe for testosterone. Can't even write complete sentences. Rated: 3/5 Mar 1, 2013 Full Review Robbie Collin Daily Telegraph (UK) When it comes to long-form tales of political intrigue, television serials are fast encroaching on cinema's patch, and if this very ordinary thriller is the best Hollywood can do, it might as well cede the whole territory. Rated: 2/5 Mar 1, 2013 Full Review Don Shanahan Every Movie Has a Lesson As it turns out, Broken City is made out of an aluminum chain of recycled Hollywood cookie cutters. Rated: 2/5 Feb 18, 2024 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review Not much of anything works in Broken City, making the title more than apt. Rated: 1.5/4 Sep 20, 2022 Full Review Keith Garlington Keith & the Movies For me, the biggest problem with “Broken City” reveals itself early and persists through the entire picture. There is practically no fire or energy shown in any facet of movie. Rated: 2/5 Aug 19, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Jelisije J A predictable, but entertaining political thriller that sad to say would have been better if they cut the romantic sub plot from the entirety of the movie. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 09/17/24 Full Review T T Cool movie. That said, there were multiple plot holes. Russell Crowe and Mark Wahlberg did a great job. On the other hand, Natalie Martinez was annoying or at least the character she played totally sucked. There were a couple of plot twists and turns that kept the movie interesting and entertaining. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/20/23 Full Review Matt P Wasn't too bad. Considering I've recently seen mile 22 with mark in and that was terrible. Catherine didn't have much to say, and the movie looks a bit dark. Crowe is over the top and trying to bring life or his chapter but that gets in the way. I do think mark has talent and he fit in quite well. I despised the actress in this sorry who cheated. Preferred the blonde who helped marks character in his office. Ah well. Maybe they'll make a follow up that could be interesting. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/12/23 Full Review Audience Member Just not there. Action and acting is not good as well as the story. Disappointing because it seemed like it should have been entertaining Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 12/13/22 Full Review Trerg F Movie for the evening no more The current mayor of New York, Nicholas Hostetler, who again runs for this post, hires ex-cop, and now private investigator Billy Taggart, to follow Nicholas's wife Kathleen, who, it seems to him, has long since cuckolded him. True, Billy does not yet realize what role he is assigned in the game of the mayor. The film 'City of Vice' was filmed in 2013 by Allen Hughes, one of the brothers of the Hughes directorial tandem, who shot such strong films as 'From Hell' and 'The Book of Eli'. However, the 'City of Vice', the trailer which turned out to be much more interesting than the film itself, has already become one of the main disappointments of the current film season, failing miserably at the box office. Despite the excellent miscasting of the film, high-quality directing with a gloomy neo-noir style and the lack of a clear division of the main characters into purely positive and purely negative (in this film, everyone is equally good), after watching it one wants to exclaim: 'Is that all?!', because the plot in the picture, unfortunately, it is not particularly twisted, the denouement comes extremely quickly and predictably, although there are many prerequisites for an excellent political thriller in the film, but screenwriter Brian Tucker did not really bring the plot to greater completeness and thoughtfulness. The only real plus of the picture was its cast, which includes Mark Wahlberg, who played the role of the controversial Billy Taggart, Russell Crowe, who appeared in a very atypical image for himself, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Barry Pepper. It is on the excellent acting of the actors that the essentially shaky construction of the film rests, because the characters played by the above actors are charismatic and interesting. Cinematographer Ben Seresin shot the film in a dark and viscous manner, which skillfully anticipates suspense, in fact, its complete absence from the tape. Not bad in the picture and the soundtrack, written by Atticus and Leo Ross and Claudia Sarn, sounding disturbing and tense in it. So, 'City of Vice' is not the most successful example of a political thriller, without much intrigue and an interesting plot, which deceptively lures the viewer with an excellent cast. You can watch this picture only out of idle curiosity or if there is no better movie on the horizon. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 08/01/22 Full Review nate c Swing and a miss, super boring, muddy and bloated plot, Russell Crowe is God awful, the older and fatter he gets the worse he acts it seems Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Broken City

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Movie Info

Synopsis Former cop Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) sees a chance at redemption for past sins when New York City's Mayor Nicolas Hostetler (Russell Crowe) calls on him for a special job. Hostetler thinks his wife, Cathleen (Catherine Zeta-Jones), is having an affair and that it may hurt his chances for re-election. However, a bigger scandal than expected pulls in Billy right at the start of his investigation. Double-crossed by the mayor, Billy begins a relentless quest for justice.
Director
Allen Hughes
Producer
Randall Emmett, Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson, Arnon Milchan, Teddy Schwartzman, Allen Hughes, Remington Chase
Screenwriter
Brian Tucker
Distributor
20th Century Fox
Production Co
Leverage Communications, New Regency Pictures, Closest to the Hole, Emmett/Furla Films, Allen Hughes
Rating
R (Some Sexual Content|Pervasive Language|Violence)
Genre
Crime, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 18, 2013, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 30, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA)
$19.7M
Runtime
1h 48m
Sound Mix
Datasat, SDDS, Dolby Digital
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