Brooklyn’s Finest (film review)

Brooklyn’s Finest (Directed by Antoine Fuqua – starring: Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes).  Plot: the dangerous lives of 3 conflicted NY Police officers are shaken during a week’s dealing with major criminal operations. Retiring veteran Eddie Dugan (Richard Gere), undercover cop Clarence “Tango” Butler (Don Cheadle), drug king Caz (Wesley Snipes), and desperado cop Sal (Ethan Hawke) find themselves deeper in a drug ridden violent world surrounding the BK projects and the 65^th precinct – all seen by the eyes of each man determined to protect his turf.  Brooklyn’s Finest is a darker, deeper, harder world compared to Antoine Fuqua’s previously brilliant “Training Day” which paired Ethan Hawke with Denzel Washington.” This one is also a “downer” to me in its feel and visual, therefore not a commercial cops-and-crooks multiplex pleaser. But that is also what makes it a unique movie experience. The film reunites Fuqua with the giant talent of Ethan Hawke; a multi-layered powerhouse of a performance by Hawke as NYPD police officer Sal. You can even hear it in his voice and the way he delivers the dialogue. The traces of desperation in Sal’s face are unlike any performance by an actor I have seen captured in a film. There is a very high level of intelligence at work inside Ethan Hawke in taking this character through the rounds going from a responsible yet frustrated family man at home, and a disillusioned yet determined cop out on the streets, to a desperately cornered beast facing the final curtain and the realities of his violent, dead-end career. The story though not so gripping as its actor’s performances, and at times a bit choppy, and sometimes cliché, still manages to hold our interest and not be a total bore. Fuqua manages to draw sympathy and understanding from the audience for all these shady gray-ish characters, where the lines between villain and hero are not so black and white. Great chemistry between Wesley Snipes and Don Cheadle. The two know where to give eachother the moment to shine and when to interact at the right level and needed energy. Richard Gere needs to do more roles like this one. A memorable performance. As officer Dugan, there is a heart, sensitivity mixed in with American masculinity that Gere makes all his own. Visually, the film is not really a throwback to the 80s, but rather looks stuck in the 80s perhaps trying to have that 70’s grittiness, but that choice is lost on me, personally. This movie doesn’t apologize for the ugly and the cruel within its criminal world.

So, what the hell am I saying?

An INTERESTING MOVIE!! A HARD CRIME DRAMA! SEE IT!!

-H. Vartanian