Brokeback Mountain: LAPD Edition.

The poster, after all, was deceiving. Russovoir expected End of Watch to be a cutthroat action thriller with a noisy gun orchestra as the only audible music in between deafened screams and cries. Russovoir thought it's a grim story of cat and mouse that will have to make the picture shaky and shady which almost often motivates staggered naps.

So when Russovoir found himself crying, he felt punch-drunk harassed.

It just could be either the well-written, well-paced plot, or just solely Jake Gyllenhaal. He was just this completely new character no one expects but everyone concedes once done. Then again, Russovoir has yet to watch Jarhead (2005), that he thinks is still uninteresting until today. He can be vulnerable and sensitive in one scene and assertive and aggressive in another. It's almost hard not to admire this 31-year old man. The amount of tenderness in End of Watch is pleasantly reminiscent of one of his notable and career-turning films, Brokeback Mountain (2005). It's like the inimitable personality of James Dean has finally shown itself - took a lot of practice, perhaps - to an actor of distinctly inimitable personality on itself. He is simply a bright sticky note on a corkboard. Among other sticky notes.

"You got a big heart for hooking up with a policeman."

The film is a glimpse of the everyday life of policemen; one being roughly nine (9) months ahead the other - partners, i-got-your-back kind of friendship for Taylor (Gyllenhaal) and Zavala (Pena). For a policeman in downtown Los Angeles where crime and violence seem staple, they need each other's back like a gun needs a safety lock. The progression of events confuses you at first because you don't know what the film's focus is: the nature of their jobs or their personal lives. Then you gradually realize the once thought unrelated scenes both were significant actualities to agitate two (2) particular emotions, as if they were the two wires that trigger an inner explosion. Russovoir came to recognize this as anger, so angry that he felt helplessly weakened and just burst into sorrowful tears.

End of Watch is beautiful despite savagery. A film of brothers from different mothers that captures how they work. Truly much respect is given to the Los Angeles policemen for their courage and dedication to their posts, where peace and order are assured only until they die.