End Of Watch

End Of Watch fails to give the “found footage genre” a new lease of life.

When trailers were released for End Of Watch during the summer, one would not be guilty for having high expectations. The trailer depicted a tense cop thriller about 2 LAPD cops who get embroiled with serious LA gangsters, the trailer which featured found footage, looked it was gonna give the found footage genre a new lease of life. End Of Watch is a film based in South Central LA starring Jake Gylenhal and Michael Péna. The duo are LAPD cops who get embroiled in gang war with a notorious South Central gang. The film uses found footage and POV style camera work similar to that of Cloverfield and REC Unfortunately, it is clear from early into the film, the found footage aspect of the film is gonna leave a lot to be desired, it works well at times, especially scenes set during police briefings and scenes in the car, when the 2 lead roles are just going about the mundane aspects of police life, but when director David Ayer decides to have use this found footage for other characters, the whole film gets sloppy. Ayer also uses handheld cameras while not in found footage mode, which leaves it with a complete lack of cohesion. On the positive side, Jake Gylenhal and Michael Péna are superb in this film, both play the roles of LAPD cops superbly, the finale of the film really kicks the film into gear, with Ayer really upping the tension and the action, but he leaves it too late, as the first hour of the film fails to get the plot going. Its a pity that Ayer went with the found footage style, had he gone down a more conventional route, the film could have focused on a stronger plot as it had the backbones for a great cop film but the aspect of the film that tries to make it stand out, lets it down the most. The film is out in cinemas now. Director: David Ayer Starring: Michael Pena, Jake Gylenhaal.