If it ain't broke, don't fix it...

This is certainly the motto employed by the writers and director of Broken City starring Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe.

Wahlberg plays the part of Billy Taggart, ex Police Detective turned Private Eye, with Russell Crowe as Mayor Hostetler.

At the beginning of the movie we see Taggart up in court on a murder charge, having been involved in a shooting whilst trying to make an arrest.  Taggart has killed someone suspected of raping and murdering a 16 year old girl.  A technicality sees the suspect cleared of the charges, whilst everyone knows he was actually guilty.  The implication being that Taggart deliberately shot the man to see justice done.  Taggart himself is cleared of his charges, before being hauled into an office to meet with the Mayor and the Police Chief.  Here he is told that new evidence has come to light that will surely convict him.  The evidence can be made to disappear, but he has to resign.

After Taggart leaves the office we flash forward 7 years where he is now a Private Eye.  Struggling to make ends meet due to his good nature, he gets a call from the Mayor and is offered a large amount of money to follow the Mayor's Wife (played by Catherine Zeta Jones), as the Mayor suspects her of cheating.  As you can imagine, this is just a ploy for a far more sinister scheme that is being orchestrated by the Mayor against the backdrop of his re-election campaign.  The Mayor's Wife turns out not to be cheating, but trying to bring the Mayor down, with Taggart used as a pawn by the Mayor to prevent this from happening.

What ensues is some nice drama, suspense, with gunplay and scuffles.  In the end it boils down to a duel between Mark Wahlberg's and Russell Crowe's characters.  Both have hidden secrets and dirty hands, and when Crowe's Mayor tries using Taggart's skeleton in the closet against him, Taggart finds his shot at redemption by calling his bluff, sticking to his guns and taking the Mayor and himself down in the process.

It's pretty standard stuff as far as plot goes, complete with slow motion exit by a redeemed and triumphant Wahlberg at the end.  Good performances by the leads, and a good supporting turn by Zeta Jones make it above average and good entertainment.  If you're at a loss for what to go and see this week before the big blockbusters start to drop down, you won't go far wrong here.