Jeremy of The Daily Rotation wrote, "Training Day writer and Harsh Times/Street Kings director David Ayer returns to the mean streets of Los Angeles with his gritty new POV cop drama End of Watch, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena. End of Watch is Ayer’s attempt to translate an episode of Cops to the big screen, with an increased budget and more character interaction. The film’s POV approach mostly works, adding tension and thrills around every corner, but occasionally the film suffers from too much chaos and panic, making End of Watch a realistic and sort of satisfying cop drama that struggles ending on the right note, but gets a pass because of the performances and escalation of brute force."
