Review of Brooklyn's Finest (2010) by Tim R — 16 Jan 2011

It is officially time for Brooklyn's Board of Tourism to be a little worried about the image of their city. "Brooklyn's Finest" is the newest entry to the popular cop-drama genre. The film is directed by the capable Antoine Fuqua ("Training Day," "Shooter') and has an enormously talented ensemble cast including Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke and Wesley Snipes.

The story revolves around three Brooklyn police officers struggling with their demons and a newly-released convicted felon trying to reclaim his gang-leader status. Eddie (Gere) is a disrespected, veteran officer that has a week until he retires and begins to collect a much-deserved pension. Tango (Cheadle) is an undercover officer faced with tough personal decisions while also struggling to reclaim his sense of identity. Sal (Hawke) is a drug task force officer who will do anything to give his family a better way of life.

After a wrongful death in the community of a young, balck honor student being robbed by an officer, the city becomes a public battleground against the police. In a city where everyone is on edge and packing heat, times are not peaceful for long.

"Brooklyn's Finest" is highly effective at not glamorizing the duty of being a police officer or life of a gang-banger. The impact of the job shows its strength through the wrenching performances given by Gere, Cheadle and Hawke.

Each character deals with their struggles in different ways. Eddie tends to turn the other cheek on his problems while Tango and Sal lose their morals and composure during numerous occasions. At different times, the film's behavior can be seen as realistic or a cultural anthropology experiment gone extremely wrong.

There are countless examples of stereotypes that will surely offend some viewers. The majority of tension filled scenes are race related which is unfortunate considering the strength of each well-developed character.

The multiple story-lines are balanced well with each character evolving throughout the film's two hour and 13 minute runtime. However, it is a shame the script didn't allow for any intertwining between the three officers. Each cop's story is an independent tale simply under the same setting.

It is also important to note the scenes of abrupt violence do not shape the film, but are rather used as transition sequences. There are only so many times an audience can become emotionally affected by witnessing a raid on a drug house seeing the same routine of bad guys running to flush the evidence while bleeding from their gunshot wounds. Tension seems to evaporate throughout the film.

As a country, we know that New York and Boston compete in every way imaginable and that the movies are no different. The film is easily comparable with 2006 Best Picture winner "The Departed," which also included a distraught undercover officer, a bad cop and a high profile gangster. Even the supporting roles are strikingly similar. Its hard to say with such a patchy ending that "Brooklyn's Finest" exceeds in any way over Boston's "The Departed," which seemed to successfully intertwine its characters while using its violence in a more effective manner.

"Brooklyn's Finest" is not a bad film, but wastes its talent in a script that never delivers. The overbearing racial tones expressed throughout are too over-the-top and offensive to be taken seriously.

The first scene of the film states there is no right and wrong, but simply righter and wronger. It is a crime that "Brooklyn's Finest" couldn't get the script righter.

Acting = A+.

Script = D-.

Directing = C.

Music/SFX = B.

Final Grade = C-.