Brooklyn’s Finest tells the story of 3 Brooklyn cops that are going through a problematic time in their lives:
Sal (Ethan Hawke) has already more kids than his cop salary can support but his wife (Lili Taylor) is pregnant with twins. Moreover they live in a small house, whose wood mould is endangering both her and her pregnancy. He feels stuck. He has to move his family to a big house and to be able to afford it, he has to steal. So he chooses to steal from ruthless criminals. But how can he manage to get away with stealing dirty money in the middle of dangerous operations?
Tango (Don Cheadle) has gone undercover among drug dealers. It has been a long time on the job and he feels like he needs to get out. His loyalties are getting blurry and his wife is divorcing him. He is expected to give Caz (Wesley Snipes), a dealer who is trying to get out but he has developed a strong bond and friendship with him.
Eddie (Richard Gere) is 7 days away from his retirement. He is lonely, he drinks a lot, is depressed and even suicidal. His only friend seems to be a hooker and he really hates the assignment given to him on his last week: he needs to train rookies. What can be more dangerous than keeping young, red-blooded rookies just trying to start being cops?
The movie concentrates on both the internal and external conflicts of these characters. And even though most of their misery could have been prevented (especially Sal’s – he should have known better than having so many kids on a cop’s salary and a sick wife), you can’t help but feel for their humanity, identity crisis and the choices they need to make. It is a plot that becomes stronger with the acting. The story is a lot more intriguing and depressing than it looks on paper.
These three cops’ destinies eventually will intersect to give the audience a pretty good finale.
This is a solid crime/drama. It is powerful but you might get distracted by how much swearing is going on, especially in Tango and Caz’s scenes. It might be authentic but it is open for discussion whether or not it distracts you.
Written by Michael C. Martin and directed by Antoine Fuqua – the director of Training Day- the movie that brought Denzel Washington Best Actor Oscar and Ethan Hawke a nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Rated at 7.0 on Imdb. 7 from me as well. It is worth your time, just don’t watch it if you are in the mood for something uplifting or if you want to be a cop. Note that the film comes with a great supporting cast too: Ellen Barkin, Vincent D’Onofrio (cameo) and Will Patton. It may not be a great film but it is a pretty good film.
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Posts on Richard Gere
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Pretty Woman starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts