"Broken City" has an all-star cast: Russell Crowe, Mark Wahlberg, Catherine Zeta Jones, Jeffrey Wright and Barry Pepper. The director seems to keep the story movie along at a nice pace.
The screenplay is the problem - it steals from at least two classic films, a real movie fan will be silently thinking; "Chinatown" and "The Maltese Falcon." This is not a bad film, but it had the potential to be better.
One weakness is presenting obvious ideas as if they were great revelations: the financial community in New York is out to make a profit regardless of who is hurt - politicians will lie to win elections - it is not good to be poor - "friends" are not always trustworthy.
You could see this film and enjoy it, but on the way home from the
theater, you might start to ask yourself a few questions about the plot that just did not make a lot of sense.
Yet, the acting is so fine, if reminds me of a good used car salesperson, even though the car is not performing up to the standard you were promised, once you drive off the lot, you hate to admit you were duped.
