What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that the film includes scenes of explicit violence, involving shooting, explosions, and fistfights, much of it in slow motion to emphasize blood spurting or faces grimacing and initiated by policemen trying to kill a witness to a corrupt cop's case. The protagonist is a severe alcoholic, so he spends much of the first third of the movie drinking, looking for a drink, or showing signs of needing a drink (shaking and coughing, with sickly pallor). Characters use the f-word a couple of times (one muffled), as well as other curse words (s-word, n-word).
- Families can talk about alcoholism. How does the movie suggest that Jack's alcoholism is a symptom of his moral/emotional malaise? How does his briefly rendered relationship with his sister indicate his troubled past and onetime courage and outrage? How does the bonding between Jack and Eddie help both cop and the thief to overcome their sense of failure and corruption?