Review of Brooklyn's Finest (2010) by Murad A — 19 Dec 2010

"Giuliani ain't clean up the city. Video games and television did. That's what cleaned up the streets. Come on, man, 'cause ya'll remember when everybody was outside. If you was two years old, if you was a hundred and two, you was outside.".

Three unconnected Brooklyn cops wind up at the same deadly location after enduring vastly different career paths.

REVIEW.

Gritty, profane, and extremely violent thriller centering around three disparate cops: a twenty-year veteran playing out his final days until retirement while struggling to keep his sanity (Gere); an undercover torn between his commitment to the job and his loyalty to the streets (Cheadle); a family man who has his morale put to the test while trying to provide a stable home for his wife and kids (Hawke); 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, re-collaborating 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.