End of Watch (2012) on Netflix
Brian Taylor films his patrol shifts for a college class, riding with his partner Mike Zavala through South Central Los Angeles. A traffic stop puts them in the Sinaloa Cartel's path.
- Netflix4.1/5
- IMDb7.6/10296,264 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes85%
Trailer
Plot summary
In the LAPD's Newton Division, Brian Taylor and Mike Zavala cover a high-crime stretch of South Central Los Angeles. Taylor, a Marine Corps veteran, records his shifts for a college class. A call about a public disturbance brings them to Tre, a Bloods gang member who hurls racial slurs at Zavala; Zavala takes him on in a fistfight and earns his respect by declining to charge him with assault. A traffic stop yields ornate firearms and a large stash of cash, and Taylor urges Zavala to investigate. That leads them to a man standing guard over a house holding human trafficking victims. ICE agents arrive, say the house is linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, and tell the officers to keep away. Taylor gets engaged to Janet, and Gabby, Zavala's wife, has their first baby.
In these lists: The Best Thriller Movies of the 2010s
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about End of Watch (2012)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña trained for five months to play LAPD officers, doing 12-hour ride-alongs up to three times a week, and on Gyllenhaal's first ride-along he witnessed a murder during a drug bust while sitting incognito in the back of a patrol car.
SPOILER
An alternate ending in which both of the main characters died was filmed, but director David Ayer ultimately chose to retain the original ending.- Most scenes were captured by four cameras at once: a handheld camera operated by Gyllenhaal, cameras clipped to Gyllenhaal and Peña's vests, and dashboard footage from their patrol car, with some scenes shot entirely by Gyllenhaal.
- David Ayer wrote the screenplay in just six days in December 2010, after deciding to make the friendship between the two partners the focus and let the police work become secondary to their chemistry.
