The director and star of This Boy's Life - Michael Caton-Jones and Robert De Niro, respectively - reunited for this performance-driven action drama. Based on Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mike McAlary's 1997 article for Esquire magazine, the movie is a poignant and powerful reflection on human weakness and the potential agonies of emotional attachment. De Niro plays Vincent LaMarca, a respected New York City homicide detective who is torn between familial and professional notions of duty when a drug dealer's murder is attributed to his estranged son, Joey (James Franco). Swapping his characteristic swagger for a shuffling, tortured vulnerability, De Niro delivers a fine, heart-rending performance. As his screen offspring's life disintegrates, so does he, becoming as weather-beaten and gloomy as the film's bleak locations. Though it is unquestionably De Niro's show, he benefits from some weighty support. Franco plays the resentful time bomb of a son to perfection, while Frances McDormand, as Vincent's intimacy-hungry girlfriend, adds a welcome feminine slant to the proceedings.

Vincent LaMarca is a dedicated and well-respected New York City police detective who has gone to great lengths to distance himself from his past, but then makes the terrible discovery that his own son has fallen into a life of crime.