“Walk away, ’cause if you think you’re investigate adultery Mr. Taggart, you don’t know Nicholas Hostetler very well.”
 
Seven years after the wrongful death case against him was thrown out of court, former police detective Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) has become a private investigator. His clients are men and women trying to get evidence of their spouse’s infidelities. New York City mayor Nicholas Hostetler (Russell Crowe) is nearing the end of a tight reelection race, and hires Taggart to look into his wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) to avoid any last-minute surprised. Cathleen Hostetler is aware she’s being followed, and warns Taggart that her infidelity is not what her husband is really interested in. Taggart soon finds himself mixed up in a world of murder and political corruption, and it all seems to revolve around a lucrative housing project deal brokered by the mayor. While Taggart was originally the one doing the investigating, he soon discovers that others are watching him as he tries to expose the corruption. The film also stars Jeffrey Wright as police commissioner Carl Fairbanks, Barry Pepper as Hostetler’s rival Jack Valliant, and Kyle Chandler as Valliant’s campaign manager.

 
Broken City plays out like a noir detective story (though without the hard-boiled PI narration)—which may be why it didn’t really speak to me as I have never really been drawn to that genre. I thought the film set up an interesting plot, and had a few unexpected plot twists. However, I found the overall pacing of the film to be too slow. The movie picked up by the second half, but never quite became the thriller I had hoped it would be. Mark Wahlberg was one of the highlights of the film. He does a good job giving some emotional depth to Taggart—from the troubled man trying to stay sober, to the loving (then jealous) boyfriend, to the detective determined to uncover corruption. I also really enjoyed the performance by Alona Tal, who plays Katy Bradshaw, Taggart’s intern/assistant. This character was fun and interesting. I would actually really enjoy a lighter film or TV series centered around her work as a PI’s assistant.

On the flip side, I was not pleased with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Russel Crowe—and they are two of the biggest stars in the cast! Zeta-Jones was hardly even in the film, and when she was, many of her lines were so generic and cliche. She is capable of so much more and it was a shame to see her in such a poorly written role. Crowe’s character also felt a bit too cliche and one dimensional. He played this generic corrupt mayor—they could have pretty much swapped in any actor in the role and it wouldn’t have made a difference.

This was the first time I was given a film in DigitalHD format to review. Broken City is available 3 weeks early via DHD, before you can rent it or buy it on DVD/Blu-ray. I watched the film via an AppleTV, streamed at 1080p from iCloud via a wireless N connection. While I didn’t have any issues with playback, there were a few high-action scenes where the picture got a bit pixelated or had some ghosting. However, for the most part I found the picture to be quite clear and indistinguishable from a blu-ray. The sound, while not HD, was still quite good and sufficient for the film.

I can see some definite advantages to the DigitalHD format. First, Fox and other studios have been releasing many movies via DigitalHD a few earlier than their rental and physical media counterparts. Also, you can purchase it anytime, anywhere and it is instantly available to stream or download on any compatible device. Plus, it takes up no space in your home, and the DigitalHD version is usually cheaper than the release-day price of the Blu-ray.

As for the disadvantages, during those initial 3 weeks of the DHD release, you don’t have the option to rent if you are unsure about paying $15 for a film sight-unseen. Also, Blu-ray release-day sale prices tend be about $5-10 more, but they usually come with the same DigitalHD copy, an Ultraviolet copy, more bonus features, and higher quality HD sound. Plus if you own the physical disc, you can easily loan it out to family members or friends.

As for my recommendation on Broken City, I would say rent it first if you have not seen the film. I know this is an odd recommendation seeing as one of the points of DHD is that you can buy it 3 weeks before you can rent it, but I can’t recommend a $15 blind buy.

As for whether to choose DHD or Blu-ray, it all comes down to how you like to consume your media, whether bonus features are important to you, and how much you want to spend. Ideally, I would like to see more retailers do something like Walmart has done in the past where they gave customers the Vudu digital copy immediately when they pre-ordered the Blu-ray. Another great alternative would be if there was some kind of an upgrade option for customers who purchase the DigitalHD version early and then decide they also want to own the Blu-ray disc.

What’s Included:

Film (1:48:56):

iTunes:
• Widescreen, 720p (download) and 1080p (streaming)
• Size: 3.81 GB (720p HD)
• Audio: English DD 5.1, Spanish 2.0
• English CC, Spanish subtitles

Extras (iTunes Extras available on PC/Mac only):

• Putting it All Together
  Contains a Play All option, or you can view the following featurettes separately
  • A “Black List” Script (4:44)
    Screenwriter Brian Tucker talks about his inspiration for the script, and the difficulties in getting the film made. Director Allen Hughes and star Mark Wahlberg talk about what drew them to the script.
  • Anatomy of a Thriller (8:13)
    The writer, director, editor and actors Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jeffrey Wright, Russell Crowe, Alona Tal and Mark Wahlberg talk about making the film. Also includes behind-the-scenes footage.

Final Thoughts:

In Broken City, Mark Wahlberg gives a good performance, but Russell Crowe’s and Catherine Zeta-Jones’ talents are certainly under-utilized. The film is a bit slow-paced and never becomes a fully realized thriller.

The movie looks and sounds good on DigitalHD (pretty much on par with Blu-ray), but there are minimal bonus features. iTunes offers two short behind the scenes featurettes, but they can only be viewed on your PC/Mac. Other providers may offer more or less bonus features.

It kind of defeats the purpose giving a “Rent First” rating for a DigitalHD release, where one major selling point is that you can get it 3 weeks before you can buy it or rent it, but I can’t recommend a $15 blind buy. However, fans of the film should be thrilled to be able to get early access to the film.

I don’t know that I’m completely sold on DHD—while it has the convenience of being there instantly when you want to see it, I still prefer my physical media as it comes with more bonus features, HD audio and usually the same digital copy/ultraviolet as well for an average of $5-10 more (based on average release-day sale prices). Plus you can loan out the disc to family/friends, which is harder to do with an iTunes copy.