First off, let’s get this out of the way… the onscreen friendship and chemistry of Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena is absolutely fantastic. The pair are absolutely fantastic together as a pair of friends who serve together in the LAPD.

The film is predominantly shot to look and feel like a documentary; Brian Taylor (Gyllenhaal) is working on an art elective and is shooting footage for a project. It allows them to account for most of the footage and cameras, but not all of them.

Doesn’t matter though, because this is a completely engrossing film.

The pair ride together and are involved in one another’s lives. They ride through tough neighbourhoods and work problems, good and bad, but the bad seems to far outweigh the good, and they and we see some pretty horrible things.

Through the day-to-day events and the job, the pair run afoul of a local street gang, and that is going to lead to a brutal and violent confrontation. The violence is realistic and jarring and is absolutely white-knuckle in its presentation. Because of the way it’s shot, it just feels intensely immediate and real.

The one caveat that seems to rule the film is that not only does everyone have access to firearms, but everyone has their camera on all the time. Still, everything works in this; there is a gritty realism to the film as the pair confront violent crimes and horrible realizations.

It’s a top-notch film and delivers on character, action, and a solid narrative that works in a slice-of-life kind of way.

I love everything in this film, and with the appearance of Anna Kendrick in it as well, this makes all of it a win. This one is a helluva ride, and Ayer, who served as writer and director, makes this film work incredibly well.

The details, the performances, but most of all, Gyllenhaal and Pena are absolutely perfect in this. Just watching them take shots at one another, making fun of one another, and then backing one another up all the way, all the time, this is an incredible pairing of actors, and they, as the driving force of the film, make it incredibly watchable.

There’s also a great appearance by David Harbour as well as Frank Grillo, America Ferrera and Natalie Martinez.

This was a great film, and I can’t believe I hadn’t watched it to date. But damn, did I love settling in for this one. This is a fantastic, if brutal film that hinges on a powerful bond, friendship, and the thin blue line.