End of Watch, may be the best movie to be released before we get into the more Oscar-minded releases of this fall season. In my opinion, not just the best cop movie in recent years, as one critic asserted, but probably the best police movie since Training Day. It fuses key elements of differing genres, in such a way that by the end of it, you're so enraptured by the protagonists, that the final scenes of the movie evoke a flood of emotion from moviegoers of both sexes.
David Ayer, produced this film, with a reported budget of $8 million. He's the auteur director/writer who penned, Training Day, the Fast and the Furious, Harsh Times, S.W.A.T, U-571, amongst other well reviewed films. Ayer is a master of depicting the lives of those who protect and serve. He's one of the best in Hollywood at portraying these men and women's lives with such realism, grit, and honesty. In this film, he created characters that his two stars, Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña, that audiences could easily relate to. I grew to like them both so much over the movies 109 minute running time, that the film's conclusion was very difficult for me stomach.
The supporting performances in this movie are fantastic, with my nod for best one going to, Anna Kendrick. America Ferrara gets a close second, while Natalie Martinez, rounds out a stellar cast.
End of Watch is more than worthy of the price of admission. See it before, the fall box office gets overloaded with other quality pictures.
