David Ayer’s End of Watch stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena as a pair of L.A. cops pounding the dangerous streets. It’s a down n’ dirty look at the day-to-day experiences of being on the beat, full of suspense and earthy humour based mostly on the guys’ racial and cultural differences.
End of Watch is really notable for breathing life into the “buddy cop movie” template; a Hollywood formula that took off as a genre in its own right in the 1980s. Mixing action, drama and comedy, these films would pair up two male characters - sometimes two cops, sometimes a cop and a crim - who would often butt heads on their way to pursuing a common goal.