Watch Before Viewing Pride and Glory

Before Colin Farrell’s latest film ‘Pride and Glory’ hits theatres, Movies.ie recommends the following cop-dramas to get you in the mood.

Gavin O’Connor collaborates with Narc director Joe Carnahan on this family-focused police drama concerning an honest homicide detective (Edward Norton) assigned to investigate the precinct run by his potentially crooked older brother (Noah Emmerich). As the investigation begins to reveal some troubling facts about the precinct, it gradually becomes apparent that the policeman who is also the older brother’s best friend (Colin Farrell) may be the man orchestrating many of the suspected crimes. As a gritty and intense movie about a police family caught up in a NYPD corruption scandal, the film finds real Pride and Glory in its superb cast. But before you settling in with Farrell and gang this weekend, Movies.ie recommends the following cop-dramas to get you in the mood:

 

 



 

NARC (2002)







Director Joe Carnahan’s explores the dark underbelly of the drug world with this compelling story about the intense psyche behind those individuals called “narcs,” -undercover officers who put themselves on the front lines of the war against drugs. We follow the story of suspended undercover narcotics officer, Nick Tellis (Jason Patric), who is reluctantly drawn back onto the force to find the truth behind the murder of a young police officer killed in the line of duty. He is teamed with Henry Oak (Ray Liotta), the slain officer’s partner, a rogue cop who will stop at nothing to avenge his friend’s death. As Tellis and Oak unravel the case, the dark underbelly of the narcotics world reveals itself in surprising ways that are more twisted than either officer has seen before and the mystery that slowly reveals itself threatens to destroy them both. An intense adrenaline rush from the first heart-stopping chase scene to the stunning dramatic climax.




SERPICO (1973)








Sidney Lumet’s unflinching adaptation of Peter Maas’s best-selling book is a rousing portrait of courage in the face of insidious corruption. Al Pacino is forcefully real as Frank Serpico, an independent young recruit entering the police force in the late 1960s, fulfilling a childhood dream. The good old boys of the NYPD lose no time in initiating Serpico into the ways of cutting corners, forging documents, and taking payoffs from local gambling operations and narcotic rings. His refusal to take illegal protection money and his counterculture lifestyle make Serpico a target for harassment by his unified and powerful peers. A stellar example of gritty ’70s filmmaking, Serpico features one of Pacino’s most electrifying performances.



WE OWN THE NIGHT (2007)








Director James Gray places two distinctly different brothers–Joseph (Mark Wahlberg) and Bobby Grusinsky (Joaquin Phoenix)–as the central characters in this crime-infested thriller. Joseph and Bobby inhabit two conflicting worlds in late 1980s New York, the former becoming a cop and the latter running a nightclub. Bobby spends his evenings in a den of iniquity, indulging in drugs, alcohol, and gambling, and his model-like girlfriend Amada (Eva Mendes) is never far from his arm. Their two worlds meet when the father of the two men, Burt (Robert Duvall), who is also a cop, gets together with Joseph to ask Bobby for information about a patron of the club named Vadim (Alex Veadov). With high-caliber performances throughout and Gray suffusing the plot with enough twists and turns to provide a few surprises, We Own The Night works as a good -old fashioned cop film with a little bit of Scorsese-like drama thrown in for good measure.



INFERNAL AFFAIRS (2003)







This tense thriller featuring Hong Kong superstars Andy Lau and Tony Leung followsing the parallel lives of Ming (Lau), a cop who secretly reports to ruthless Triad crime boss Sam (Eric Tsang); and Yan (Leung), an undercover police officer who poses as a Triad member in Sam’s gang. For Yan, the years of living in the criminal underworld have taken their toll, and he longs to return to regular police duty. However, the only person who knows Yan’s true identity is his mentor Superintendent Wong (Anthony Wong), also the unsuspecting superior of Ming. When Wong’s officers come face to face with Sam’s gang, both leaders realize there are moles in their midst. Soon Yan and Ming must track each other down, leading to an inevitable confrontation. Seductively shot and beautifully acted, this is like a summation film, bringing together all the themes, motifs, mood, and style of the gritty policier Hong Kong thriller, one that will make John Woo and Michael Mann proud.




Pride and Glory is Irish cinemas Friday, November 7th.