End of Watch (2012)

All Critics (166) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (142) | Rotten (25) | DVD (1)

Ayer and his cast appear to have so convincingly nailed the way these characters talk and act that you might not even notice the film slipping from workaday grit into out-and-out myth.

January 8, 2013 Full Review

Bilge Ebiri

New York Magazine

Top Critic

The actors, both excellent, get right into Ayer's groove. So by the time we arrive at the unsparing climax, we really know and care about these guys.

January 8, 2013 Full Review

Elizabeth Weitzman

New York Daily News

Top Critic

Gyllenhaal and Pena are after a lived-in camaraderie and a street-level realism. Pena, especially, succeeds; you buy him every second.

January 8, 2013 Full Review

Michael Phillips

Chicago Tribune

Top Critic

The performances here are so sharp that viewers may wish End of Watch has been shot by someone who knew how to find the right point of view for a scene and leave it there.

January 8, 2013 Full Review

Richard Corliss

TIME Magazine

Top Critic

Intermittently enjoyable but incredibly frustrating.

October 2, 2012 Full Review

Tom Huddleston

Time Out

Top Critic

Jumpy and exciting.

September 24, 2012 Full Review | Comments (10)

David Denby

New Yorker

Top Critic

This Jake Gyllenhaal buddy/cop drama features some of the best on-screen banter in years.

March 3, 2013 Full Review

Tom Glasson

Concrete Playground

Deeply affecting, powerful film that's a thrilling experience. Highly recommended.

February 27, 2013 Full Review

Jeffrey Lyles

Lyles' Movie Files

It's time to ride along with the LAPD through South Central, but this is no "Adam 12″. It's a realistic roller-coaster ride told with hand-held cameras and other devices.

January 29, 2013 Full Review

Paul Chambers

Movie Chambers

David Ayer's End of Watch is an unflinching cop drama that uses the handheld approach to heighten the drama and escalate the tension.

January 23, 2013 Full Review

Jeremy Lebens

We Got This Covered

The performances and chemistry of the lead and believable, improvised dialogue keep the drama grounded.

January 19, 2013 Full Review

Phil Villarreal

OK! Magazine

What gives it life are the performances of Gyllenhaal and Peña. They emerge as beacons of friendship in a bleak world of barred windows, barking dogs and strutting gangsters.

January 8, 2013 Full Review

Jay Stone

National Post

It leaves you wondering -- who is filming the Gyllenhaal/Anna Kendrick love scenes?

January 8, 2013 Full Review

Jake Mulligan

Boston Phoenix

Nicely balanced between savage violence and sweet human interactions, and it whips along at a brisk pace.

December 7, 2012 Full Review

Kurt Loder

Reason Online

The street characters are played by a remarkable panoply of real-life types who speak in a thrilling, totally believable patois.

December 4, 2012 Full Review

CJ Johnson

ABC Radio (Australia)

Planning on shooting your next movie handheld? Hoping for that realism dividend? Please read this first.

November 27, 2012 Full Review

Ed Whitfield

The Ooh Tray

A strong sense of camaraderie sets this edgy police thriller apart from the crowd. And it's also a change of direction for writer-director David Ayer, who has explored the dark side of police corruption in Training Day, Harsh Times and Street Kings.

November 26, 2012 Full Review

Rich Cline

Contactmusic.com

Both actors are first rate, their friendship palpable, their professional conduct (tempered by practical joking and youthful bravado) convincing.

November 25, 2012 Full Review

Philip French

Observer [UK]

If I was a big-city American policeman watching this, I would also wonder just whose side Ayer is on. I'd be more nervous about going to the work the next day. Not less.

November 24, 2012 Full Review

Graham Young

Birmingham Mail

Ayers's warmest film to date finds meaning and depth in its "I love you, man" exchanges and rarely goes too long without staging some daring detective work and videogame ultraviolence.

November 24, 2012 Full Review

Tara Brady

Irish Times

One to watch, but through narrowed eyes.

November 23, 2012 Full Review

This is London

Writer and director David Ayer has created a pair of real, untainted heroes - which makes this a rare cinematic treat you have to watch. End of.

November 22, 2012 Full Review

Grant Rollings

Sun Online

• 1. Officer Zavala: Admit it, you'd hit that shit.
  2. Officer Taylor: Orozco?
  3. Officer Zavala: Yeah.
  4. Officer Taylor: With a cinderblock.
  – Submitted by Rolf J (3 months ago)
• 1. Officer Zavala: Marriage is a promise before God.
  – Submitted by ScubaSteve Walter M (4 months ago)
• 1. Officer Zavala: God loves cops.
  – Submitted by ScubaSteve Walter M (4 months ago)
• 1. Officer Zavala: When me and Gabby got engaged, she [Gaby's grandmother] asked me one thing. Do you want to hear it?
  2. Officer Taylor: Fine, let's hear it.
  3. Officer Zavala: She said can you live without her? And if the answer's yes, man up and forget her. Don't string her along. Think about it. I did.
  – Submitted by Jayathra L (5 months ago)
• 1. Officer Taylor: Z, Look at me. Alright? Look at me. On three, dude, you're gonna empty your mag and run.
  – Submitted by Phillip P (5 months ago)
• 1. Officer Zavala: Sometimes, I don't even know when you're kidding. I need to know when you're kidding.
  – Submitted by Eric D (7 months ago)