Edward Norton stars as a New York police officer assigned a case involving members of his family in Pride and Glory. (Alliance Media Films)When we last saw Edward Norton on screen, he was green, 20 feet tall and dealing with some serious anger management issues as the Incredible Hulk. In Pride and Glory, the talented actor is again fighting baddies and carrying the weight of the world on his (now slimmer) shoulders.

Norton plays Ray Tierney, a morose New York cop who has retreated to a safe, distinctly un-macho posting in the missing persons bureau. Here, as in most police movies, being stuck at a desk job is deemed lame beyond belief.

After four NYPD officers are killed in what looks like a botched drug bust, Ray's father, Francis Sr. (Jon Voight) – a senior member of the force – persuades him to hit the streets and lead the investigation. The victims were all part of a precinct run by Ray's older brother, Francis Jr. (Noah Emmerich).

The family dynamic gets even more complicated when it becomes apparent that fellow cop and brother-in-law Jimmy Egan (Colin Farrell) has gone to the dark side, engaging in all kinds of corruption. (It’s safe to assume that none of these kinfolk were ever encouraged to pursue a career in accountancy.)

Despite some solid acting and nifty hand-held camera flourishes, Pride and Glory elicits a gigantic sense of déjà vu. Last year’s We Own the Night also dealt with family loyalty among New York policemen, but in a much less plodding manner.

The great Sidney Lumet, who directed Serpico (1973) and Prince of the City (1981), is the poet laureate of morally conflicted law enforcement officers. Pride and Glory aims to create a Lumet-style ethical quagmire, but director Gavin O’Connor and screenwriter Joe Carnaghan bring nothing new to the corrupt-cop genre.

An emotionally fraught Christmas dinner scene? Check. Grainy night-time photography in a gritty Manhattan setting? Check. Irish-American men who seem to yell a lot? We’ve seen it all before.

After watching The Wire, HBO’s wildly inventive police procedural series, Pride and Glory seems like a remnant from a bygone era.

Jimmy Egan (Colin Farrell, left) is a corrupt cop being investigated by his brother-in-law, Ray Tierney (Ed Norton). (Alliance Media Films)Still, some of the cast members shine. Emmerich – so good as the suburban vigilante in Little Children – is convincing as a careerist whose work life swirls into disarray as he copes with a terminally ill wife. Voight also does nice work as the threatened patriarch – especially during the aforementioned holiday meal when, after a few too many drinks, he pours out affection to his troubled brood.

Surprisingly, the sparks don’t really fly between Norton and Farrell. They have just a few scenes together and we don’t ever fully buy into Jimmy Egan’s off-the-grid deviant behaviour.

When he threatens to place a hot iron on a baby’s face, we never believe he’ll go through with it. Following his understated triumph earlier this year as a down-on-his-luck hitman in Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges, Farrell reverts to ostentatious form here.

Norton appears incapable of a bad performance, despite the middling quality of the product. Although he’s sporting a goatee and a nasty scar on his face, he emanates choirboy goodness, and somehow makes his character’s moral certainty compelling.

It isn’t exactly grand larceny, but Norton easily steals this film.

Seven years after 9/11, it’s once again possible for a major studio to explore the theme of corruption in the New York Police Department. Too bad Pride and Glory is such a generic effort.

Pride and Glory opens Oct. 24.

Greig Dymond writes about the arts for CBCNews.ca.