Two prominent then-young(ish) actors faced off for a gritty cop drama via 2008’s Pride and Glory. Set in the Washington Heights area of Manhattan, Pride starts with notice that four police officers got killed during a raid.

Obviously this doesn’t sit well with the department, and it creates a lot of tension among the cops. Chief of Detectives Francis Tierney (Jon Voight) wants someone he can trust to take the case, so he stays close to home: his son Ray (Edward Norton) receives the assignment.

As he investigates, Ray quickly tabs a thug named Angel Tezo (Ramon Rodriguez) as one of the culprits but the trail doesn’t end there. Before long, we learn that police involvement occurred – involvement that included Ray’s brother-in-law Jimmy Egan (Colin Farrell) in a prominent role.

We’ve seen roughly 7264 dramas about corrupt cops over the decades, so Pride doesn’t exactly tread upon fresh ground. The question becomes whether or not the film manages to create something to set it apart from the crowd.

Does Pride take us anywhere fresh, or is it just more of the same old? Unfortunately, I think it largely falls into the latter category.

If there’s a distinctive moment to be found here, I can’t locate it. The viewer can easily anticipate most – if not all – of the flick’s “twists”, so virtually none of them manage to surprise. The film lays out its characters in a pretty one-dimensional way at the start, and that doesn’t really change.

Perhaps if Pride took us on an exciting, involving journey I wouldn’t mind its predictability. It doesn’t manage to open things up in a terribly impressive manner, however.

For one, I think it’s a mistake to reveal the nature of the corrupt cops so early. Perhaps if we encountered a mystery for a little bit longer we might remain more intrigued.

Director Gavin O’Connor tends to tell the tale in a somewhat rambling manner as well. Though my synopsis puts the focus on Ray, we also see a fair amount of Jimmy as well as Ray’s brother – and Jimmy’s superior – Francis Jr. (Noah Emmerich). The film jumps among them in a seemingly random way that fails to bring out the characters well.

Indeed, you’ll be forgiven if you forget some of the personalities. They can disappear for so long that we lose track of them.

Pride wants to be a rich character drama about the way this deepening scandal emerges. However, it fails to coalesce well enough to maintain our interest.

Take a big Christmas dinner scene, for instance. This is pretty much the only time all the film’s major characters – the three Tierney men and Egan – come together in one place.

That makes it sound like an important sequence, but it really doesn’t go much of anywhere. It runs for an extended period but provides only minor exposition, so we don’t learn anything here that couldn’t have been developed more efficiently elsewhere – or with a tighter dinner scene.

We find too many off-track scenes in Pride and not enough that keep us on target. No, I don’t demand – or desire – a film that focuses relentlessly on plot to the exclusion of all else, but Pride goes too far afield.

It’s a crime drama with little tension and a character piece with little personality. It boasts a fine cast who all deserved to be in something richer and more intriguing than this flat, one-dimensional piece.

Pride and Glory appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. An intentionally gritty presentation, the Blu-ray replicated it pretty well.

The movie attempted a “documentary style” feel, and that meant some inconsistent sharpness. Still, most of the film brought positive delineation.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws remained absent, and the often heavy grain came as a stylistic choice.

The movie’s palette often leaned toward blues and greens, though it came with ambers/oranges at times as well. Within the stylistic parameters, the hues looked pretty good.

Blacks felt fairly deep, and shadows offered good clarity. Nothing here will turn Pride into a movie to show off your TV, but the Blu-ray seemed to reproduce the source in a positive manner.

Less equivocal feelings greeted the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack of Pride and Glory. From the opening football game through a mix of action and street scenes, the soundfield provided an involving environment.

Cop sequences were the most active, as they featured good use of various vehicles and ambience all around the spectrum. Music demonstrated nice stereo imaging as well, and the mix meshed all five speakers in a satisfying, believable way.

In addition, the track boasted positive audio quality. Speech remained natural and concise, without edginess or other issues.

Music demonstrated solid dimensionality, while effects were clean and bold. Bass response showed nice depth and power. Overall, this soundtrack served the film well.

How did the Blu-ray compare to the DVD version? Both soundtracks offered similar soundscapes, but the BD”s lossless TrueHD mix boasted stronger range and clarity.

Given the film’s visual challenges, the DVD wasn’t up to the task, as the format couldn’t really handle all the grain. This meant the BD worked better, as it also came with superior colors, blacks and definition. Expect a sizable improvement over the DVD’s spotty visuals.

We get a documentary called Source of Pride: The Making of Pride and Glory. The show runs one hour, seven minutes, seven seconds as it provides remarks from director Gavin O’Connor, producer Greg O’Connor, NYPD undercover narcotics officer Tony Musicaro, former NYPD detective Bobby Hopes, executive producer Marcus Viscidi, Street Narcotics Unit detectives Kevin Roy and Armando Rodriguez, hip-hop producer Ray Acosio, Washington Heights locals Omar Echegaray and Gabriel Lopez, technical advisor Nemo Librizzi, hip-hop writer/producer “Cuba Libre”, casting director Randi Hiller, New Line Senior VP of Development Cale Boyter, second AD Colin MacLellan, NYPD officers Jason Lacayo and Mike Miller, co-producer Josh Fagin, script supervisor Christine Gee, director of photography Declan Quinn, production designer Dan Leigh, senior technical advisor Rick Tirelli, NYPD 1st Grade Detective Bob Allongi, and actors John Ortiz, Shea Whigham, Frank Grillo, Lake Bell, Noah Emmerich, Edward Norton, Flaco Navaja, Rick Gonzalez, Jon Voight, and Ramon Rodriguez.

The show looks at research, training and attempts at authenticity, story, character elements, and rehearsals, cast and performances, action scenes, cinematography and sets, and various production concerns.

“Source” acts more as a production diary than as a traditional “making of” program. While it does include a lot of the standard interview snippets, it spends most of its time on the set, and it follows the production in chronological order.

It also provides a much less chipper look at the production than usual. Normally shows like this talk about how great everything was.

Instead, “Source” seems to wallow in the problems. Gavin O’Connor constantly complains about the growing pressures and always seems one step away from jumping off a bridge.

There’s still plenty of happy talk, of course. The participants love to congratulate themselves for the flick’s authenticity.

Nonetheless, the frequent stream of negativity gives “Source” a more believable air, as we find out about the movie’s various problems. It’s not quite a “no holds barred” look at the production, but it seems more honest than most.

If viewers expect anything fresh and creative from Pride and Glory, they’ll encounter disappointment. The movie seems too muddled and scattershot to ever overcome the predictable nature of its genre. The Blu-ray presents positive picture and audio as well as an interesting documentary. Pride isn’t a bad movie, but it never becomes a memorable one.

Note that this 2025 Blu-ray of Pride and Glory acts as a reissue of the original 2009 disc. It makes no changes to that version.

Also note that this set includes two other movies as well: 2008’s Body of Lies and 2010’s Edge of Darkness. Each movie appears on its own disc so each also literally replicates its original Blu-ray release.