The more things change, the more they stay the same. To wit: In the 1996 film "City Hall," John Cusack played an idealistic New York City deputy mayor who finds out that his boss (played by Al Pacino) isn't the man he thought; in the 2013 film "Broken City," Mark Wahlberg plays an idealistic ex-cop who finds out the New York City mayor (played by Russell Crowe) isn't the man he thought.
What sets "Broken City" apart from "City Hall," despite nearly 17 years? The use of Kanye West's "Power," Catherine Zeta-Jones in full Lady MacBeth mode and Wahlberg's burning intensity. "You're going to walk away," Wahlberg says with the gusto of "not you." (Also, that is poor Kyle Chandler in a body bag at 89 seconds; Texas forever, indeed.)
Wahlberg has bounced from genre to genre in recent years, which isn't an accident.
"Yeah, it's all calculated," he told Moviefone last year. "We always usually saddle up to do the complete opposite of the last thing that we did. And then you got to balance when they're going to be released, what quarter they're coming out. So right after 'Contraband' we went and did this Seth MacFarlane movie that's a rough comedy ['Ted'], and now we're doing 'Broken City,' which is a crime thriller and drama. That's a movie that could come out a soon as next year. Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jeffrey Wright, Barry Pepper, Kyle Chandler, I mean we got a stacked deck here."
"Broken City" is out next year. Jan. 18 to be exact. Watch the trailer above or head over to Apple to check it out in HD.
