Review: Broken city

Hello again, Russell Crowe. In his second release this week, the Academy Award winning actor portrays a New York City mayor determined to get re-elected at any cost. The implausibilities start piling up early on in this formulaic crime thriller.

Broken city
Direction: Allen Hughes
Actors: Mark Wahlberg, Russel Crowe
Rating: **

Get-set-for-action-packed-thrillers-this-weekend-Russell-Crowe-and-Mark-Walhberg-are-all-set-to-entertain-in-the-enthralling-action-film-Broken-City-while-Arnold-Schwarzenegger-plays-a-tough-drug-cartel-leader

Hello again, Russell Crowe. In his second release this week, the Academy Award winning actor portrays a New York City mayor determined to get re-elected at any cost. The implausibilities start piling up early on in this formulaic crime thriller.

Seven years after being shunted off the force, an alcoholic cop-turned-gumshoe (Wahlberg) is hired by the whisky-swilling mayor (Crowe) for a special Job. He must tail the politician’s wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and gather evidence about her infidelity.

The streetwise sleuth soon gets embroiled in a larger scandal involving murder, blackmail and the ‘development’ of a low-income housing project. Then things get even pulpier. The script, which defies credulity, devolves into gunplay, car chases and collateral damage.

A zingy election eve debate livens up the proceedings a bit, but that’s about it. In the event, Broken City is worth a skip, never mind its cracking star cast.