Let's start with the plot. This turned out to be a huge misconception; and albeit the little downfall to this film. The plot, if you want to call it that was all over the place. From trailers I thought that the three cops played by Richard Gere, Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke all intermingled and their stories fell together; but no - this film is ideally three separate cop stories that address different levels of cop corruption in the heart of Brooklyn. Each tale, if you want to call it that, is about 45 minutes in length and interspersed to keep the audience intrigued in each individual story; hoping that somehow the stories will connect in the end; but no such luck. The first plot is that of Richard Gere's character Eddie. Eddie is an older cop; a week away from retirement. He is an alcoholic, suicidal depressed, a whoremonger and could care less about his job. We slowly watch as Eddie's drive and passion is reignited through events that happen as he trains rookie officers and how he learns to 'take his work home with him.' The next plot is that of Ethan Hawke's character Sal, a dirty cop who is trying to steal enough money from drug dealers to buy his pregnant and sick wife a new suitable home to live in. The final plot revolves around Don Cheadle's character of Tango; an undercover cop who has to decide whether he is going to remain loyal to his police brotherhood or slip into a life of crime himself. The film also ends in a very Shakespearan way; that was necessary for the audience to feel like something was actually resolved.
The plots are very simple; yet the story, as it unfolds, feels very complex - and if it weren't for the inter-cutting and placing of the plots I believe that the audience members would grow weary of the story quickly. On a completely different note, the acting was phenomenal. I don't think I've ever seen a role that Don Cheadle has performed that I haven't liked. I was even engaged by his character Bernie in Hotel for Dogs. Richard Gere has always been one of my favourite actors; he provides an intensity to his characters that many actors in Hollywood haven't mastered yet. While his performance as Eddie is not award-worthy it's still a very intense performance and I was really impressed. As for Ethan Hawke, any two-bit actor could have played a better Sal than he did. I got bored with his character very easily. He reminded me of Christian Bale's performance in Harsh Times; which not only was boring as hell; but was maybe the most unoriginal portrayal of a dirty cop I have ever seen. Funny enough - Hawke and Bale kinda look alike too. Oh and Snipes? He wasn't bad... but this was far from his finest performance... he'll always be Blade to me.
As for the directing... Antoine Fuqua has done this before. This movie feels a lot like his 2001 cop-drama Training Day. Yet this movie is far from his worst... I was just hoping for something a little more original from Fuqua than what Brooklyn's Finest actually was. Not only did this film feel a lot like a dumbed-down version of The Wire but he also brought along many actual actors from the hit-television show who played characters almost identical to that of when they were on The Wire. And of course Fuqua's worked with Hawke before in the role of a cop... albeit not nearly as dirty as in this film - but it just felt like it's already been done.
It's not a movie that you MUST see. It's a movie that I recommend you watch... if you have nothing else to do on some evening. Rent it when it comes out on DVD; see it on a cheap Tuesday... but don't rush out to see it.
2.5 out of 5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment