Credits Director : James Gray Starring : Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, Robert Duvall, Eva Mendes Our Score :

By Adam Frazier

Director James Gray (''The Yards'') has put together an impressive cast for his new cop drama, ''We Own the Night''. Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix star as brothers who are on two different sides of the law.

It is 1988 (when androgyny and Glam Rock ruled the world). A flood of narcotics has swept over New York City, bringing with it a vicious crime wave that is forcing the city’s law enforcement to its knees.

It’s a war out on the streets and nightclub manager Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) is caught in the crossfire. At El Caribe, a Russian-owned club frequented by gangsters like Vadim Nezhinski (Alex Veadov), Bobby tries to keep his distance from the numerous drug deals happening at the establishment.

Regardless of his self-indulgent, amoral lifestyle, Bobby is committed to his girlfriend Amada (Eva Mendes) and has ambitions to open his own club in Manhattan.

Bobby has a secret; one he hopes will stay buried from his employers. His brother is Police Lieutenant Joseph Grusinsky (Mark Wahlberg), who has followed in the footsteps of their father, celebrated Deputy Chief Burt Grusinsky (Robert Duvall). Bobby’s relationship with his family is weak and strained, and to make things worse – his father has just issued an ultimatum.

Burt explains that it’s a war out there, and with Bobby’s brother Joseph about to head up a new narcotics team, it’s time for Bobby to pick a side. It’s one of those classic, “you’re either with us… or against us,” moments that seems to be the norm in cop dramas like this.

Bobby can no longer play both sides of the line when his brother is nearly killed in an assassination attempt. A group of Russian drug dealers (led by Nezhinski) has set up a hit list to take out high-ranking officers in the NYPD in order to ensure ease in their drug trafficking.

Realizing his family will only be safe when Nezhinski and his organization are destroyed, Bobby must abandon his reckless ways and join forces with brother and father for an all-out assault on drug-dealin' bad guys.

We Own the Night is a pretty standard cop drama with several “been-there-before” moments. It’s overall generic, but is adequately executed by director James Gray – who seems to have some experience in detailing the gritty underbelly of New York cime. Wahlberg and Phoenix are good enough in their roles as the straight-laced cop and the extravagant playboy, though it seems there just wasn’t enough for them to sink their teeth in to.

Even legendary actor Robert Duvall seemed bland here, his character so cookie-cutter that there was no room for a third dimension. It’s too slow to be tossed off as a good action flick, as there’s only a couple action sequences in the movie – and too generic to be a thought-provoking drama with layers of depth.

At best, ''We Own the Night'' is good – not great. It’s worth seeing for Eva Mendes (her body mainly, not her acting chops) and the grizzled Joaquin Phoenix getting into sibling rivalries with Wahlberg.

The film is entertaining and does lots of things right, but none of them will leave you blown away. You’ll constantly think of other films in which you saw the same moment happen, and it probably worked better there anyway.