Rather than the advertised battle of the brothers, We Own the Night is a coming-of-age tale about a club owner and his anxieties over a changing landscape and his own masculinity. Assuring himself through his woman and his occupation our anti-hero, played with stock vulnerability by Jaquin Phoenix, is straight out of a 1970's/80's genre piece. To see the villain given centre stage is the film's trump card, allowing the film to escape the waters of genre mediocrity but also keeping the action close to Phoenix 's adequate skills. Skills backed up by a worthy set of supporting players dominated by Mark Wahlberg and graced with Robert Duvall, though Eva Mendes' role as superficial trophy is becoming frighteningly familiar and strangling what may be a genuine talent.

Director James Gray manages to avoid the stereotypes of throw-back filmmaking via a level of restraint best exemplified by a brilliant car chase. The flaws of out-and-out genre are present, however, in the form of a sexually explicit opening and a less than gripping finale (a factor remedied last month by Ridley Scott with American Gangster).

By modern standards, especially when in league with modern television crime series, We Own the Night may be a chore of box ticking – but it's old-school box ticking and it's carried off well. James Gray knows when to turn up the music, when to light a cigarette and when to shut up. And it shows.

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