Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
In a broken city rife with injustice, ex-cop Billy Taggart seeks redemption and revenge after being double-crossed and then framed by its most powerful figure, the mayor. Billy's relentless pursuit of justice, matched only by his streetwise toughness, makes him an unstoppable force - and the mayor's worst nightmare.
Broken City is a largely by-the-numbers neo-noir political thriller that doesn't distinguish itself in any meaningful way. The plot recycles familiar corruption and double-cross tropes without adding fresh twists, and the story feels muddled and predictable. The acting is the film's strongest suit — Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, and Catherine Zeta-Jones bring credible screen presence even when the material lets them down. The cinematography is competent but unremarkable, offering nothing visually distinctive for the genre. The ending resolves things in a fairly conventional, unsatisfying way that doesn't reward the slow build. Overall a forgettable mid-tier thriller that fails to leverage its strong cast into something memorable.