Review of Freelancers (2012) by William M — 13 Aug 2012

A very sour and disappointing attempt at a gritty tale of Police corruption in New York. This is not all down to Jackson's terrible acting either. After graduating from the academy Malo(Jackson) is assigned to his Father's former partner's Sarcone(De Niro) department to be mentored by LaRue(Whitaker).

Sarcone is a highly corrupt cop taking his 'commision' off the top of all criminal assets seized on duty.

Sarcone tests Malo to measure his loyalty but then the predictable revelations come regarding the death of Malo's Father Malo's attentions turn to payback.

So firstly with Malo's character being a rookie cop you couldn't really put Washington or Cheadle in the role. But as usual 50 pence is awful. He has only two expressions, one involves a smile & the other doesn't. Would he have been here without a financial input? Very doubtful.

De Niro & Whitaker barely break sweat and it's not just brief apperances by the former.

Plotwise it just takes massive leaps & everything just goes by the brief numbers.

With a re-written screenplay this film could be extended to a gritty brooding thriller along the lines of Copland or Internal Affairs. Change Jackson and it could be one of those films that leaves you talking about afterwards but as it stands this is just dreary nonsense.