Brooklyn's Finest

Gritty, profane, and extremely violent thriller centering around three disparate New York cops: a cynical twenty-year veteran playing out his final days until retirement while struggling to keep his sanity (Gere); a conflicted undercover torn between his commitment to the job and his loyalty to the streets (Cheadle); a desperate family man who has his morale put to the test while trying to provide a stable home for his wife and kids (Hawke); director Fuqua's attempt at a police morality tale is well-crafted, strongly acted, and sure to grab your attention with intense, in-your-face violent action, but it doesn't offer enough new insight to transcend the familiar, seen-it-all-before limitations of this genre. Hawke (reteaming with his Training Day director) stands out with an unexpectedly edgy performance. The violence—while expected for a film of this genre—is still tough to stomach at times. **½

Very well made with that gritty feel to it that Antoine Fuqua is renowned for. A decent score by Marcelo Zarvos, interspersed with rap and other 'street' tunes sets the tone. All the performances were excellent; in particular Richard Gere as the world-weary Eddie, Don Cheadle as the street-wise Tango and Ethan Hawke as the up-tight Sal. Wesley Snipes did a great job too as Cal, as did Brían F. O'Byrne as Sal's partner, Ronnie Rosario. Also worthy of note were; Will Patton as Lt. Bill Hobarts, Michael Kenneth Williams as Red, Shannon Kane as Chantel and Ellen Barkin as Agent Smith. Oh, and look out for a nice little cameo from Vincent D'Onofrio as Carlo.

I must say that the critics must have had a bad day or something when they reviewed this one. I'm usually pretty much in agreement with them, but I think they missed a trick here. Yes, the three threads don't tie together in a neat bow but they're not supposed to; that's life, it doesn't always go the way you want it to (seldom does actually). The performances are great and there are some really superb visual moments too. I liked the plot, yes, maybe a little haphazard here and there, but not as bad as some would have you believe. For me, well worth a look… RECOMMENDED.

My Score 7.1/10

IMDb Score: 6.7/10 (based on 32,232 votes at the time of going to press).

MetaScore: 43/100: (Based on 33 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes 'Tomatometer' Score: 42/100 (based on 140 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes 'Audience' Score: 47/100 'Liked It' (based on 98,882 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).

You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.

Draws you right in from the start, builds tension to a climactic point late in the film. In the middle, you get to absorb a lot of NYC atmosphere which somewhat compensates for the formulaic nature of the film. You've seen it all before, there's no new ground, but its done in a way that will hold your interest.

Grim, adult movie themes highlight only the heavy issues that burden cops in this big city.

Cheadle, Hawke and Gere all develop very burnt-out, empty looks in their eyes that help make this film more believable than it really is. Lives have fallen apart (the personal lives of these cops). The script makes it clear that the job is rough on cop families, it makes this point almost to the point of overkill.

The women of this film are resigned to the belief that "its a man's world". They have bought this belief system almost totally. And yes I include Ellen Barkin's middle-aged super-boss-cop because she tries to be just like men in order to get to the top of this man's macho cop world/underworld environment.

Gere is subtle, very nuanced and effective in his role. Hawke is incredibly explosive in his role of a man desperately overstrung, or at least in need of a good vacation. Cheadle's mixed-up about-to-snap performance works perfectly with Snipes who gives a fine, mature, theatrical style performance. I'm ready to see more of the mature Snipes as his career progresses.

All the acting here is great and it overcomes the generally "seen it before" nature of the production. This is basically similar to Greek tragedy, so if you view it that way you won'be let down by the relentless grimness that is here from start to finish.

Entertainment value highlighted by enough tension, plus the studied pro performances rate an 8 rating from me.

In Brooklyn, New York, the veteran policeman Eddie (Richard Gere) is a bitter and disillusioned lonely man that will retire in seven days. The catholic dirty detective Sal (Ethan Hawke) is a family man in despair that needs to raise money to buy a better house for his family. The undercover detective Tango (Don Cheadle) is affected by the long period he has been working infiltrated in gangs and has requested to be transferred to an office. Their lives and fates are entwined when Eddie retires and sees a missing girl that has been kidnapped by sex traffickers and he has to take a decision; Sal has to make the down payment of the dreamed house and he does nit have enough money; and Tango is assigned to frame the drug lord Caz (Wesley Snipes) that saved his life years ago and has become his friend.

"Brooklyn's Finest" is a gloomy and bitter police story with a cast that is a constellation of stars, some of them with minor parts. I watched this film with great expectations, but unfortunately the screenplay is not original, too long and sometimes confused. The three stories are very well known by viewers of this genre and the narrative is cold, without emotions. The director Antoine Fuqua could (or should) have made a better feature with the available budget and cast. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Atraídos Pelo Crime" ("Attracted by the Crime")

Let me just say straight away that the cast of this movie contains ALL of my favorite actors. I thought I was going to be in for a treat, maybe my expectations ruined my conclusions.

The biggest problem with this film (in my worthless opinion) is that it is portrayed as dramatic and yet there just seem to be soooooo many holes in the plot that the overall impact is reduced, almost to the point of being farcical. I won't give anything away but I don't believe that 'gangsters' are THAT stupid, I watched the TV show 'The Wire', which I thought was excellent due to it's balanced perspective. This film portrays the cops as being crooked, lifeless and aggressive morons whilst the 'gangster' are simply gun toting foul mouthed idiots who struggle to walk upright, let alone be career criminals.

By the time the final scene began I found myself struggling to stay awake because the 'drama' had become so Tepid and predictable.

Very very average.