Review: Brooklyn's Finest
Alison MillerIssue date: 3/4/10 Section: Movies
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Starring Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke and Don Cheadle
Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Rated R
Grade: C-
Ever since "Crash" won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2004, filmmakers have excessively been trying to replicate its formula - you know, the one where a group of unconnected characters with separate storylines miraculously connect by the end of a film.
Well, guess what Hollywood? It's not original anymore! Case in point: "Brooklyn's Finest."
"Training Day" director Antoine Fuqua returns to familiar territory with "Brooklyn's Finest," which follows three troubled cops in the Brooklyn area.
The audience is introduced to the characters abruptly right from the get-go.
The opening scene involves a Brooklyn cop, Sal (Ethan Hawke) shooting a man (Vincent D'Onofrio) and then proceeding to steal the dead guy's wad of cash. It turns out his cop salary isn't cutting it. His wife is expecting twins and he is trying to buy a bigger house for his family. (Oddly enough, the basement in his home is used as a poker room for him and his fellow cop buddies.)
The second of three cops is Eddie (Richard Gere), a veteran of the police force.
He's been working on the job for the last two years and has seven days left until his retirement is official. But he's not exactly what you would call a role model. He's an alcoholic, he sleeps around with a prostitute and he would rather ignore a situation than take action while he is working.
Despite all this, he is assigned to show around a rookie cop during his last few days on the job.
Don Cheadle plays Tango, an undercover cop who is starting to struggle with his two separate lives. He wants to get out, but his superiors force him to complete one last job that involves setting up the guy (Wesley Snipes) who saved his life while he was working undercover.
Perhaps stealing from Scorsese's "The Departed" (but not in a good way), the film becomes a messy blood bath as the characters' stories converge. In the end, Fuqua gets a little too carried away with his depiction of a corrupt Brooklyn police force and the film's stellar cast is never used to its fullest potential.
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