Broken City (2013)
Average Rating: 4.7/10
Reviews Counted: 143
Fresh: 42 | Rotten: 101
Broken City's thinly sketched, formulaic script offers meager rewards for all but the least demanding noir aficionados.
Average Rating: 5.1/10
Critic Reviews: 39
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 29
Broken City's thinly sketched, formulaic script offers meager rewards for all but the least demanding noir aficionados.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 29,336
Movie Info
In a broken city rife with injustice, ex-cop Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) seeks redemption and revenge after being double-crossed and then framed by its most powerful figure, the mayor (Russell Crowe). Billy's relentless pursuit of justice, matched only by his streetwise toughness, makes him an unstoppable force and the mayor's worst nightmare. (c) Fox
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Cast
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Mark Wahlberg
Billy Taggart -
Russell Crowe
Mayor Hostetler, May... -
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Cathleen Hostetler -
Jeffrey Wright
Carl Fairbanks, Comm... -
Barry Pepper
Jack Valliant -
Kyle Chandler
Paul Andrews -
Natalie Martinez
Natalie Barrow -
Griffin Dunne
Sam Lancaster -
James Ransone
Todd Lancaster -
Justin Chambers
Ryan -
Alona Tal
Katy Bradshaw
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Broken City Trailer & Photos
All Critics (152) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (42) | Rotten (101) | DVD (1)
Somewhere in here there's a cogent, timely attack on the links between business and politics.
Top CriticIf you're in the mood for some slick trash featuring great actors slumming it without phoning it in, "Broken City" is a crackling good time.
Most of the roles are so ambiguous you end up scratching your head in the final reel, and some of the loose ends are so irrelevant they seem to have ended up on the cutting-room floor.
What follows is not a review; it's an autopsy...one long (illustrated!) spoiler.
[An] overproduced, underobserved, yet agreeably twisty new political thriller ...
Broken City is passable, occasionally entertaining but ultimately uninspiring.
A complete mess, this drama is packed with sophomoric political ideas, unfocused storylines and inane dialogue.
the screenplay, filled with hackneyed implausibilities and trite characterization, constantly lets everyone down
It is predictable procedural fodder - you can see the "twists" coming a mile away - but done with enough conviction to paper over the plot holes and cliches.
It has ideas and, in places, verve, but it can't help but feel like a pretty standard thriller with some big names rather erroneously attached
Alarm bells started ringing when every terse exchange proved chuckle worthy.
A solidly old-fashioned crime thriller that ploughs the familiar furrow of cops, crooks and corruption in New York City.
Welcome to the broken city... where honorable anti-heroes with dark pasts can get double-crossed and mixed up with good guys who're really bad guys... where doing the right thing will put you IN TOO DEEP. It's a drag to be here.
Aside from feeling bemused and confused by the end, the web of deceit that's presented is not even vaguely believable.
Acting drunk looks easy but its certainly not. So when Wahlberg hits the bottle, we are treated to what must be the most laughable screen lush in cinema history.
In the end, the cards fall roughly where you'd expect them to in a clichéd thriller.
Broken City may break new ground when it comes to pioneering cinematic scowls, but that's the only area where the cast is able to elevate the banal material.
The results are as jaded and dull as Crowe's performance.
It's moderately enjoyable, well acted and both complicated and simplistic.
Mark Wahlberg builds a credible and complex charaterisation as the flawed character whose route to redemption is paved with treachery. He's the best thing going for Broken City
Excelling in the smarmy stakes, Russell Crowe is back in form as a crooked New York Mayor...
While this thriller plays with themes of political ethics and ambition, it merely lets them simmer in the background. Director Hughes is clearly much more interested in macho posturing and the convoluted scandal-based plot.
Wahlberg and Crowe. Together at last. So overwhelming. Can't breathe for testosterone. Can't even write complete sentences.
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.
When a high-powered cast like this is gathered, you have the right to expect more than mundanity.
Audience Reviews for Broken City
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Mayor Hostetler: Tell me things haven't changed!
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- Mayor Hostetler: There are some wars you fight and some wars you walk away from, this is the fighting kind.
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| NEEDED MORE FARTING DWARVES! | 8 months ago | 7 |
| Sound | 3 months ago | 0 |
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Foreign Titles
- La trama (ES)
It had a lot of promise, but unfortunately doesn't have a lot to offer. It's like a really slick half baked take on Chinatown, but without the guts, intelligence, or skill. Don't get me wrong, there's some talented people involved here, but they just seem to be coasting along on auto pilot, and it shows.
The film has a few good moments, but overall proves to be largely unremarkable and run of the mill. See it if you want, but you would probably be better off watching something else.