Three out of Five stars
Running time: 125 mins

Watchable cop thriller with strong performances and suitably gritty direction, but the climax gets bogged down in some embarrassingly awful cliches.

What's it all about?
When four New York City cops are murdered in a crack-den ambush, Chief of Detectives Francis Tierney (Jon Voight) asks his son, Detective Ray Tierney (Edward Norton), to lead the investigation. Ray reluctantly accepts, aware that the victims were under the command of his brother, Frank (Noah Emmerich) and colleagues of his brother-in-law Jimmy Egan (Colin Farrell).

What looks like a drug bust gone horribly wrong soon takes on a more sinister edge, especially when Ray discovers that someone had tipped off the drug dealers about the raid. As the net closes around the surviving cop killer, Ray becomes concerned that both Jimmy and Francis may be involved in a potentially devastating corruption scandal.

The Good
Co-writer Gavin O'Connor directs in a suitably gritty style, aided by Declan Quinn's superb cinematography and moody lighting. The script is equally rough-edged, with tough dialogue and some shockingly violent moments.

Norton is excellent as the conflicted Ray, who is reluctant to go against his family, but also harbours guilt and resentment over his part in a previous corruption scandal and is anxious to make amends. There's also strong support from Voight, while Farrell gets to explore the tough / tender side of Jimmy in interesting ways (e.g. crying like a girl in a bathroom one minute, threatening to iron a baby's face the next).

The Bad
The main problem is the script's fondness for The Big Book of Irish Cop Cliches, particularly during a climactic punch-up set to fiddle music in an Irish pub. The film is also guilty of wasting its supporting cast (Rick Gonzalez as a rival drug dealer, Lake Bell as Jimmy's wife) and you have to feel sorry for Jennifer Ehle, who shaved her head to play a cancer victim and only appears in four scenes.

Worth seeing?
The performances ensure that Pride and Glory remains watchable, but the weight of its cliches prevents it from landing the desired emotional punch.