“We Own The Night” is a perfect example of how a flawed film with a clear focus can still turn out to be entertaining.

The acting, the characters and the story are what make this movie work well. But most importantly, the movie has a clear focus from beginning to end – it is purely character-driven.

Director James Gray does not veer from the crime genre in his third film. His previous two films, “The Yards” and “Little Odessa,” were also about crime in New York.

The story has a classical feel to it in a couple different senses. Gray said this film is an example of ancient storytelling that goes back to the Greeks about the shaping of lives with destiny.

The film also has an old cinema film feel as well. Here is a movie that can be viewed in one sitting that will not require you to think for hours and hours afterwards about the plot, yet the plot is still stimulating in the viewing process.

“We Own The Night” takes place in New York in 1988, where a family is torn by different lifestyles. Club manager Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) and police officer Joseph Grusinsky (Mark Wahlberg) are brothers who do not see eye to eye and are the sons of police Chief Burt Grusinsky (Robert Duvall).

But when a violent line is drawn between loyalties to family and the mafia, Green has to find a way to help protect his brother and father and analyze where he is going in life.

In a film driven by character development, Gray reunites a sure bet with Phoenix and Wahlberg, who also starred in “The Yards.”

Both Wahlberg and Phoenix are improving actors who realistically pull off the tension between two brothers who do not see eye to eye. Wahlberg pulls off the edgy, pissed off New York cop, but noticeably takes the passenger seat to Phoenix’s role.

But the best and strongest acting comes from veteran Duvall who steals every scene he is in. His analogies are the best lines in the films (“If you pee in your pants, you can only stay warm for so long” and “If you marry an ape, don’t complain about the stench of bananas”). The rest of the dialogue in the film is nothing special.

Some of the best scenes in the film are during a drug raid and a car chase in the pouring rain. Both scenes are built up with tension and filled with intensity. But it is the small scenes that make the movie like the odd beginning that acts as a slideshow for the credits. But what really makes the movie come full circle is the ending, which I will not spoil. It has a complete feel, but leaves the audience left hanging.

However, the movie does suffer from many flaws. The dialogue was unspectacular as well as the performance of Alex Veadov, who was believable, but never stood out as an exciting villain. Perhaps it was the point to play a “common drug dealer,” but there seemed to be a good deal of wasted opportunity with his character. He is upstaged by Moni Moshonov’s character, Marat Buzhayev, whose unlikely role is one of the best twists in the film.

And some of the situations seem so unrealistic and unbelievable that it almost pulls the audience away from the flow of the movie. For example, Green is allowed to become a police officer nearly overnight, despite his past. Now with a police family, the connections are there, but that seems too ridiculous. No police training? Wahlberg’s line, “Dad always said you were a good shot,” and the mention that Green has to go to police academy after the case does not make up for this flaw.

But the film flows well and these flaws do not amount to any serious problems with the film.

“We Own The Night” is a solid film that knows the exact story it wants to tell, and does it with precision through the acting and character-driven plot.