"Allen keeps us entertained and guessing throughout"

Broken City is Allen Hughes' return to the director's chair since 2010's The Book of Eli and while this is your typical cop drama, there is something quite engaging about the feature.

The film opens to the familiar sight of Mark Wahlberg as New York cop Billy Taggart, he's chasing down a perpetrator and kills him, and following the questionable event, he is ejected from the police force by the Mayor of New York (Russell Crowe) and Chief of Police (Jeffrey Wright). Fast forward and we find Taggart as a down on his luck private eye, and although things don't seem to be going his way at all, he then gets a call from the Mayor, who wants Taggart to investigate the suspected infidelity of his wife, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones. As we follow Taggart investigating for the Mayor, events snowball and it soon becomes apparent that things are not all that they seem, as Allen keeps us entertained and guessing throughout.

Broken City is a well acted and stylish piece of cinema that has a stellar cast headed up by Wahlberg, who seems to have come into his own as a leading man. Similarly Russell Crowe is excellent as the Mayor, and the supporting cast all play to their strengths, some are given very little to do such as Zeta-Jones but given her little screen time she gives a well rounded and integral performance. Alona Tal - who has featured mostly on the small screen - gives a sterling performance as Katy, the put upon doting assistant to Wahlberg's Taggart, having featured in a handful of lesser known features, she is definitely one to watch. While finally Jeffrey Wright brings gravitas to his role as the chief of police, and has some of the most memorable lines in the film.

There may not be anything new or particularly ground breaking about Broken City, yet it remains a well crafted addition to Hughes resume.