Though we’ve seen this film before in various forms, Gray concocts a well-laid plan for a satisfying crime drama. He may not be Scorsese, and this certainly isn’t The Departed, but it’s pretty damned entertaining.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 8, 2024

Gray steeps his tale in murky complication, and the staging of every scene, be it downbeat or frantic, is so assured that you barely notice the implausibilities.

| May 23, 2022

One of the top ten chase scenes of the 2000's...

| Original Score: 88/100 | Aug 22, 2021

The talent of the three protagonists shines. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 5, 2020

It's just sad that the film couldn't rise to the heights of Phoenix.

| Original Score: 2.5/4.0 | Sep 26, 2020

It is Gray's feel for the kinetic action sequence which is probably We Own the Night's greatest strength.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 1, 2019

This is complex stuff, and Gray gives it a sense of gravity that comes through not only in the acting-with Phoenix's increasingly heavy-souled performance anchoring things in nearly every shot-but also the filmmaking.

| Jul 5, 2018

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 18, 2011

An intriguing blend of mainstream audience-pleaser and a more subtle, even intellectual agenda.

| Jul 6, 2010

Director-writer James Gray makes it all seem more urgent than it has any right to feel, because he knows how to make tense, violent dramas that are soaking in mood.

| Original Score: B- | Jul 6, 2010

This is a man's movie: gritty, macho, and lacking in grace.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 6, 2010

If We Own the Night is flawed and somewhat choppy, it served notice that Gray, once he refined his technique, would be a force to be reckoned with in the cinema world.

| Original Score: 64/100 | Dec 20, 2009

Gray assumes rather than dramatizes the depths of his characters, scanning for gravitas where there are only rickety clichs

| Aug 27, 2009

A generic thriller that aims for deeper resonance, We Own The Night is an intriguing feature, undermined by a plot that stretches credulity, yet which still manages to conform to predictable gangster flick clich.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Oct 18, 2008

It's not surprising, but it's engaging enough that most patrons will likely cut the director some slack for the out-of-period details and convoluted plot contrivances that make the film seem at once sloppy and too neat.

| Oct 18, 2008

| Original Score: B+ | Oct 18, 2008

Although We Own the Night is never as suspenseful as it wants to be and can be a little formulaic, it never comes close to being boring, and that's something you can't say too often about movies these days.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 22, 2008

(We Own the Night) was terribly written and just such a waste of great actors.

| Original Score: 2/5 | May 24, 2008

The pace may be a shade plodding at times, and the dialogue frequently does disservice to the subject matter. Yet the performances lift it out of the rut...

| Apr 3, 2008

Lovers of good straightforward thrillers should find plenty to enjoy here.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 19, 2008