Brooklyn's Finest Reviews

I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick as it was barely seen when it was released and I have never been really impressed by Antoine Fuqua's work, even 'Training Day' was rather overrated in my opinion. Eventually, I thought it was pretty good, probably Fuqua's best movie, even if this project was probably too ambitious for him. Indeed, it deals with 3 story-lines about 3 different cops working in New York and even if all the stories were interesting, they all could have been more developed, especially Richard Gere's story-line. Indeed, basically, he did nothing heroic or outstanding during his 22 years career as a cop but, suddenly, when he just retires, he becomes some kind of cow-boy. Rather far-fetched if you ask me . Still, I thought it was well made and there was a pretty cool cast (Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lili Taylor, Ellen Barkin). It was also nice to see Wesley Snipes to show up in a decent movie instead of all the straight-to-DVD garbage he has made recently. I also loved the very first scene with Ethan Hawke and Vincent D'Onofrio. Indeed, even if I suspected that one of them would die, I thought it would be the other way around and I always find it ballsy and just plain awesome to have a big name actor killed in the very first minutes. To conclude, even though it is actually nothing really amazing, it remains a decent and well made cop drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Antoine Fuqua made the astonishing Training Day back in 2001. It was a gritty, hard-hitting, dirty cop movie starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. It’s an absolutely amazing film, one of my favorites. That was his first big movie, since he hasn’t made anything too memorable. I never saw Tears of the Sun and Shooter was alright at best, but still nothing memorable. Now he comes with Brooklyn’s Finest, which looks like a return to Training Day, but does it succeed with its goal?

Brooklyn’s Finest is about three [clichéd] unrelated stories about Brooklyn’s finest. The first story stars Richard Gere playing Eddie, a cop who has seven days until he retires and is assigned to train some rookies. The first time we see Eddie he tries to kill himself, with a unloaded gun. He is depressed, and really has never accomplished anything with his life, especially as a police officer. Sounds kind of familiar doesn’t it?

The next story involves Ethan Hawke playing Sal, a father of a big family; he has four kids, with twins on the way. He needs money and will do anything to get it. He is in the opening scene were he is talking to a guy in a car and then shoots the man and takes his wallet. Sounds familiar doesn’t it (the general outline, not the shooting)?

The third story is about Don Cheadle who plays Tango, an undercover cop starting to get confused whether he is a cop or criminal, and wants his old life back. OK, so that ridiculously sounds familiar. A side player in Cheadle’s plot is Wesley Snipes in his return to the screen role as Caz, Cheadle’s boss (not cop, but criminal). Snipes hasn’t been in theatrical released movie since Blade Trinity back in 2004, but he doesn’t give us anything memorable. So now that the [clichéd] plot is out of the way, let’s focus on the specific aspects of the film.

The direction from Fuqua, I’m not going to lie, is pretty admirable, except for one slow-motion walk to the camera, only flaw honestly. He has some beautiful tracking shots of Brooklyn, some following shots in front of, and behind, the actors, which could possibly be my favorite shot. He never really gets to close to the actor, and gives them space to act freely, which was the strongest point in the movie. So not only on a technical level did Fuqua do good, but he also did good on controlling the movie. He let the actors work freely but without letting them get too overdramatic, which is perfect! So Fuqua, if he chose better material, could have made an Oscar winner. Instead he falls into a pit of clichés and this work will be forgotten, quite a shame.

The simple and plain best part of this film is the acting; it’s quite phenomenal, for the most part. The star in my opinion, which comes as no surprise, came from Ethan Hawke. He is one of my favorite actors, slowly climbing up the bar, and this just adds to his great career of acting. He has acted in tons of films, like Dead Poets Society (1989), Alive (1993), Before Sunrise (1995), Gattaca (1997), Hamlet (2000), Tape (2001), Training Day (2001) in which he received an Oscar Nomination, Lord of War (2005), and my personal favorite of his, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007). He has played a bunch of different role but this cop role of his is a combination of Denzel’s and Hawke’s in Training Day. He is a good-soled cop but his morals are confused and is border-line dirty. Hawke plays this role with great persistence, he is a family man in need, a tough cop, and a good man confused. Every scene with him really lights up the movie, he surpasses Gere, Cheadle, and Snipes. He nails the role plain and simple.

Cheadle also brings a good spark to this clichéd role. This character has been done, over, and over, and over again, and it is quite tiring. But Cheadle brings something fresh, trueness if you will. He feels like one of the few “real people” playing this role. There were times when he went a little overboard, but I feel that’s the writer’s fault, not Cheadle’s. He has a lot of emotion that he lets out in little balls, scene after scene. He was probably the third main as far as screen time goes, maybe second over Hawke, but he definitely stands his ground is worth the watch.

Now the disappointing part in the acting department. Richard Gere really did have the main role, and though he did adequate, he did nothing special especially when compared to Cheadle and Hawke. His character was… distant, and that was not just the writer’s fault Gere didn’t bring his A-Game to the table making me like him. I really didn’t care what happened to Gere and left me emotionally distant. He does what any other semi-decent actor would do in a role this overdone. Gere could have been out casted by so many different, better actors. I am really disappointed, but overall he still did a good job.

Now comes the big flaw in the movie, and most movies nowadays; the script. To me, if a movie doesn’t have a good script or story, there is no movie. You could have fantastic acting, directing, cinematography, editing etc. But if the story is weak, the movie is weak. This years Shutter Island is an example of how I feel about this, well made movie, very bad script.

Brooklyn’s Finest was written by first time movie writer Michael C. Martin. I think in preparation of this film he sat down, watched every cop movie ever, took notes, and ripped them all off. There is not one original thing about it. It really is a very strong character drama, but it’s far too long. I lost interest about half way through and couldn’t wait for it to end. He didn’t do Gere’s character justice, it was a bad lead. Also the terrible clichés can’t stop talking about it because it was the biggest fault in the movie. Also the fact that nothing really happens until the last 20 minutes or so is problem, especially since it’s a cop movies. Cop movies should entertaining and be exhilarating, this fails.

I wasn’t expecting much in the first place but I got even less. It’s a good character drama but fails in the most important department, the script.

** ½ (out of *****); Rent It

Sal (Hawke) is a struggling family man who has 4 kids and his wife is expecting twins, he knows that the house they live in is not big enough to support a family of 6, so he is looking into purchasing a brand new property. Throughout the film he is constantly on the phone with what is assumed to be a real estate agent saying that he will soon have the money. Sal believes he can confiscate money at a bust. His friend Ronny Rosario (Brian F. O’Byrne) warns him against doing so. Tango (Cheadle) is an undercover cop who has gotten himself involved personally with those he is supposed to be taking down. One of those people is like a brother to him, Tango wrestles with his emotions about bringing down local drug dealer Casanova Philips (Wesley Snipes). Eddie (Gere) has Seven days left on the job, and he just wants them to go buy as fast as they can. Eddie has depression issues and as his last seven days unfold we see that Eddie is willing to let things go unseen because he just does not want to have the hassle of being involved.

Antoine Fuqua creates 4 lead characters. Four people we can all relate too. Sal just has it rough, he needs the cash. He is not a bad man he just takes for granted what he already has. At times Sal just needs to take a step back and realize his family may not be in the perfect situation but putting himself at risk may not solve any of their issues. Tango is probably the one that we can identify with the most, he has loyalties in the police force, laws he swore to uphold, but Cass saved his life, and we all know that when someone saves your life you owe them one. Tango is trying to find a way of getting Detective first Grade without having to throw Cass off the bridge so to speak. Cass has a tough life to live, we all know that morally drug dealing is a terrible profession, but one can understand that growing up on the streets of Brooklyn would not have been easy at times. Eddie is an older cop who has been around the block perhaps many more times then he would have liked, and the images and the cases he has worked are going to stay with him for the rest of his life. Eddie just knows the ins and outs of the job to well to know that they will not be able to save everyone, and being a hero can at times get you killed. You could easily feel the life in these characters as they marched across the screen. Antoine Fuqua wonderfully paints their emotional lives all over a canvas.

This film was exactly the type of film that really shows the ins and outs of humanity, these were Brooklyn cops struggling to keep up with everyday life and what did he see in this film? The lies the corruption that they are involved day in and day out. This film is dark, it is real. The lives, the situations were ones you could easily read in your local news paper or see on the evening news. It seemed more like a reality TV series more than a film and that is because Fuqua masterfully told three separate stories with Sal, Tango and Eddie barely intersecting in each other’s life.

There wasn’t any really scenery that stood out except an aerial view of the Brooklyn Bridge. There were a few flashy bar scenes but you could tell through Cheadle’s brilliant display of facial expressions that for Tango it was all a hoax. Cheadle was the best of the four main stars, and his chemistry with Wesley Snipes was perfectly in synch that you felt these two were like brothers. These two could easily own a much better script as this script was the first screenplay written by Michael C. Martin. This film will not be a stand out come award season next year, or it will not hit a greatest films of all time list, but it is something down the road one could easily have in their collection of gritty cop dramas. Cheadle really executes the edgy feeling of a man in too deep. Snipes stands a long side him wonderfully portraying a man whose life looks glamorous on the surface but he himself is constantly hiding money and living on the edge for fear someone could turn on him.

Really why this film was so perfect is because there was not the high speed car chases, the insane explosions, the dangling from a helicopter action scenes. They kept the three plots separate from one another and Michael C. Martin kept the plotlines simple enough that you will not be wondering after viewing who was who.

Ultimately the three storylines are just building tension through-out the film so that within the final 25 minutes they explode and their lives will forever be altered.