Antoine Fuqua knows his dark cop movies (he directed the very good Training Day and helped bring Denzel an Oscar with that one), in this one he goes for a more layered feel (think Crash meets Pride and Glory). I like Fuqua as a director, he may not knock these films out of the park, but he keeps you interested and knows you to do drama. I actually think his style would be great as an hour long drama on TV, because I don’t think people flock to theaters for these types of films, but they will stay up to watch.
Brooklyn’s Finest isn’t your typical cop drama, it visits places you'd probably rather not go. It has both a realistic moments and well placed “hollywood” moments. Eddie (played well by Richard Gere) is a cop about to retire, and he is doing his best to keep his various partners alive and out of trouble. Tango (played well by the always solid Don Cheadle) is a cop in deep cover who is losing it. Sal (played by Ethan Hawke who looks a little strung out these days) is a cop who is stealing drug money to help by his family a new house. These three storylines intersect while some other very solid role players show up to help progress them (namely Will Patton, Wesley Snipes, and Ellen Barkin who is feisty in this). The film moves along at good pace and you are generally interested throughout. I do think the ending is fitting though it is a bit predictable.
(The Shawshank Scale 1-10) One of the better movies of the year (though so far that’s not saying much) Good acting, well crafted drama and cops shooting drug dealers…what more could you ask for from Fuqua? Brooklyn’s Finest earns a solid 6.5 on the scale.
This movie was very good, I thought it would be dumb but to my surprise cops and drugs seem to always work. Good fair review but I would argue for a 7.0 or maybe higher. Also Gere such an underrated actor, your thoughts?
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