New York, 1988: A new breed of narcotics has swept the great city, bringing with it a ferocious crime wave more terrifying than any in recent memory. Outmanned and outgunned by the new criminal order, the police find themselves burying one of their own at the rate of two a month. An all-out war rages, threatening to engulf guilty and innocent alike.
Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) is caught in the crossfire. Manager of a Russian nightclub in Brighton Beach frequented by gangsters like Vadim Nezhinski (Alex Veadov), Bobby keeps his distance, not wanting to get involved. Despite his hedonistic, amoral lifestyle, he is committed to his girlfriend Amada (Eva Mendes) and has ambitions to open his own club and expand out of Brooklyn.
I really don't know how she does it but I think Eva Mendes somehow got hotter. That's all I can say about her, she looked absolutely beautiful in this film and I loved that it was set in the late 80s NYC and not present day. A lot of that reason was due to the awesome soundtrack that assisted it. As much as I like Mark Wahlberg and Robert Duvall, Joaquin Phoenix stole the show. This man is becoming a favorite of mine after 2000's GLADIATOR and 2005's WALK THE LINE (which I was pulling for him to win his Oscar for). Good or bad, the man can play both sides of the fence extremely well.
