The film feels like one protracted episode of a real-life police-series, like "Cops", a story-line is close to absent. You just move from one police-intervention to the other. The fact that both police-officers accidentally collide with the interests of a Mexican drug-cartel, seems to play a minor role and the tension that it causes is not built up throughout the film. The story is really about how two men can bond when they put their lives on the line together on a daily basis. So what. I've honestly seen quite a few films who did this job better. The clue is, I think, that it is not just about two men bonding, it is about a Caucasian Anglo-Saxon and a Mexican bonding. Did the filmmakers, and Jack Gyllenhaal and Anna Kendrick in specific, want to make a social statement:" Mexicans are no different from 'us', they can be heroes ánd crooks, just like us"? The social or "racial" issue (if it is one) is lost on non-US-residents. Here it just isn't an issue. This fact makes the film a lot less interesting to watch: it is time nicely spent, but the film won't stick in your mind.
The camera-work though deserves a compliment: the hand-held cameras enhance your involvement in the action. It sometimes makes you feel that you are part of the action. Pity though that the reason for this, an art-project for officer Brian Taylor, is never picked up in the film. On top of that, the reason why the "villains" would want to film their action with a hand-held, remains a total mystery throughout the film.
The camera-work though deserves a compliment: the hand-held cameras enhance your involvement in the action. It sometimes makes you feel that you are part of the action. Pity though that the reason for this, an art-project for officer Brian Taylor, is never picked up in the film. On top of that, the reason why the "villains" would want to film their action with a hand-held, remains a total mystery throughout the film.