Brooklyn's Finest Review

Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 03.05.2010

While there is great acting on hand, is it enough to warrant your attention?

Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Written by Michael C. Martin
Cinematography by Patrick Murguia
Music Composed by Marcelo Zarvos

Cast
Richard Gere ... Eddie
Don Cheadle ... Tango
Ethan Hawke ... Sal
Wesley Snipes ... Caz
Vincent D'Onofrio ... Carlo
Brian F. O'Byrne ... Ronny Rosario
Will Patton ... Lt. Bill Hobarts
Michael Kenneth Williams¹ ... Red
Lili Taylor ... Angela
Shannon Kane ... Chantel
Ellen Barkin ... Agent Smith

Runtime: 140 min
MPAA: Rated R for bloody violence throughout, strong sexuality, nudity, drug content and pervasive language.
Official Website




When I reviewed Street Kings last year, I complained about the lack of the script’s originality. With the release of Brooklyn’s Finest, my complaints are even harsher. This is not only an unoriginal idea but a rehash of a number of better films and situations, thrown together in one giant anthology of a movie reeking strongly of an overreliance on coincidence. Never once in this movie did I feel a part of the story. And that crime is just as bad as the ones perpetrated in this film.

Antoine Fuqua is back in the genre that made him famous. It has been nine years since Training Day won Denzel Washington an Oscar and gave Ethan Hawke the only acting nomination of his career. It was a movie living in the gritty realism of the streets and containing two of the best performances in this genre in a long time. If you don’t say anything else about Fuqua as a director, you have to give him credit for pulling amazing performances out of his cast.

Brooklyn’s Finest’s only strong point is the acting. Richard Gere is the veteran cop, Eddie. While it is never shown what he might have done wrong in the past, the way he is treated by other cops shows he has done nothing to earn anyone’s respect throughout his career. He has only one week left before he can collect his pension but instead of letting him coast to retirement, they place him with a new rookie partner to break in. He only has to survive this one last week to finally retire.

Don Cheadle is Tango, an undercover officer. He has been undercover for almost a decade and it has cost him everything, from his wife to his own dignity. He has become closer friends to the main drug dealer Caz (Wesley Snipes) and finds his loyalties leaning more to Caz then to his department. He just wants to get out before this life consumes him.

Ethan Hawke is Sal, a dirty cop. He isn’t so much a dirty cop than he is an opportunistic one. He is the first man we meet in the movie and he kills a bad guy for drug money. The twist is he’s a lapsed Catholic who has given up on God for help. He has a wife who is developing cancer thanks to the mold in their old, run down house. He has five kids and twins on the way. During an early conversation, the officers discuss how they only start off with a $20,000 salary and haven’t gotten raises in years. They also muse on how a dead cop earns the family $100,000, making them worth more dead than alive. Sal only needs to steal enough money to get his family the house they deserve.

The movie is one cliché after another and it all leads to three separate conflicts at the end - on the same street. Yeah, all three cops pass each other as they head to their individual fates on the same street corner. There was a lot of complaints about the 2006 Oscar winning film Crash. The main complaint was the movie is preachy and slams everything over your head to make sure you understand what happens is BAD. Brooklyn’s Finest commits the exact same sins.

It is evident from the start a tragedy is playing out before our eyes. Much like Crash, it is about unconnected stories occuring at the same time. There is one scene where Sal and Eddie share words and another where Tango and Eddie bump into each other. However, neither Eddie nor Sal knows who Tango is and the two are only slightly familiar with each other. This movie is clearly a contrived script with the ending in mind the entire film. It is simply too coincidental to be engrossing.

But, as I said, the performances save the movie. Ethan Hawke turns in his best performance since Training Day. Wesley Snipes, in his first theatrical appearance since Blade: Trinity, is the best I have seen him in a long time. I can’t help but think this is how Nino Brown (Snipes’ character in New Jack City) would have turned out if he had not been killed. Gere is decent in his role, although he looks bored half the time, and Don Cheadle is always reliable.

There are also nice touches in the directing, including an inspired title font with Biblical undertones, parlaying into Sal’s conflict of faith. However, at the end of the day, the movie is too contrived to really enjoy outside of the fantastic performances.

The 411: This is an actor’s showcase. Don Cheadle, Wesley Snipes and, especially, Ethan Hawke turn in amazing performances. It is clear this is the genre Antoine Fuqua is most comfortable with after a few disappointing turns following his breakout in Training Day. It is too bad the movie is a carbon copy of dozens of movies we have already seen. It is nowhere near as good as Training Day, remaining on the level Street Kings but with better acting. The story is what holds this movie down from being remembered in the years to come.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]