Taglines: Proof can be a powerful weapon.
When disgraced cop turned private detective Billy Taggart is hired by NYC’s mayor to tail his wife, he uncovers a conspiracy of corruption, sex, and murder. With his life threatened at every turn, Billy finds himself faced with an impossible choice, which could have repercussions for his career and family.
Broken City is an American crime thriller film directed by Allen Hughes and written by Brian Tucker. Mark Wahlberg stars as a police officer turned private investigator and Russell Crowe as the mayor of New York City who hires the private detective to investigate his wife.
This is Hughes’ first solo feature film directing effort; he has collaborated with his twin brother Albert previously. Allen in 2010 learned about Tucker’s spec script, which had languished in development hell since Mandate Pictures attempted to produce a film in 2008. Under a partnership between Emmett/Furla Films and Regency Enterprises, Hughes began production in 2011 in New York City and Louisiana. The film was released in theaters on January 18, 2013.
About the Story (2013)
NYPD detective Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) is arrested for the murder of Mikey Tavarez, who raped and murdered sixteen-year-old Yesenia Barea but walked on a technicality. Chief Carl Fairbanks (Jeffrey Wright), goes to Mayor Nicholas Hostetler (Russell Crowe) with a witness and evidence. Hostetler buries the evidence, and a judge clears Taggart as having shot Tavarez in self-defense. The mayor calls Taggart to his office for a private meeting and calls him “a hero,” but Taggart is still forced to leave the police.
Seven years later, Taggart is living with his girlfriend, Natalie Barrow (Natalie Martinez), an aspiring actress. Taggart’s private detective business is on the verge of bankruptcy when Hostetler hires him to investigate a romantic affair that his wife, Cathleen Hostetler (Catherine Zeta-Jones), is having. Helped by his assistant, Katy Bradshaw (Alona Tal), Taggart learns that Cathleen is seeing Paul Andrews (Kyle Chandler), the campaign manager of Hostetler’s rival in the upcoming elections, Jack Valliant (Barry Pepper).
At a fundraiser for Hostetler’s campaign, Cathleen reveals to Taggart that she knows he has been following her, advising him not to trust her husband. Hostetler gets the envelope with the pictures Taggart has taken of Cathleen meeting with Andrews.
At a film debut party, Natalie reveals to others that her real name is Natalia Barea, and Yesenia was her sister. At the screening, Taggart is shocked at Natalie’s sex scene, strongly disapproving of it, thinking that it would have been a scene of poetic love, not a porn-like scene. Combined with guilt over Hostetler, Taggart descends back into his former drinking bouts, arguing with Natalie both over the scene and about people she associates with during her work, so she breaks off the relationship.
Taggart proceeds to get drunk, brawling with strangers while walking the city streets. He receives a phone call from his assistant telling him Fairbanks wants his presence at a murder scene. When he arrives, it is revealed it is Andrews who has been found murdered.
Taggart admits to Fairbanks that he had been hired by Hostetler. They go see Valliant, who reveals that Andrews was meeting Todd Lancaster (James Ransone), son of Hostetler’s wealthy benefactor, contractor Sam Lancaster (Griffin Dunne). A furious Cathleen explains to Taggart that Andrews was a close friend, not a lover, who had promised her information about Hostetler’s plans for the Bolton Village Housing Project, a deal that would enrich Sam Lancaster and the mayor. Hostetler wanted to find out Cathleen’s source, so he manipulated Taggart into working for him.
Taggart decides to investigate the Hostetler corruption. He goes to Sam Lancaster’s construction business, and finds workers destroying loads of documents. Stealing some of the documents, he finds out Bolton Village has been sold in order to build high-rise office buildings, rather than a new housing development, leaving hundreds of impoverished people homeless for his own profit. After leaving Lancaster’s, Taggart is pursued in a car chase by Hostetler’s men, who run him off the road and steal the evidence back.
Taggart then visits Todd Lancaster, who says he intended to give Andrews a copy of the demolition contract as evidence against Hostetler on the night Andrews was murdered. He now gives it to Taggart instead. Taggart confronts Hostetler, who is unfazed because he has kept video evidence that Taggart murdered Tavarez in cold blood. Since there is no statute of limitations on murder, Taggart can still face prison time. However, Taggart records this conversation in which the Mayor also admits to his own corrupt dealings.
Broken City (2013)
Directed by: Allen Hughes
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Natalie Martinez, Kyle Chandler
Screenplay by: Brian Tucker
Production Design by: Tom Duffield
Cinematography by: Ben Seresin
Film Editing by: Cindy Mollo
Costume Design by: Betsy Heimann
Set Decoration by: Leonard R. Spears
Music by: Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross, Claudia Sarne
MPAA Rating: R for pervasive language, some sexual content and violence.
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: January 18, 2013
Visits: 1370
