Director: Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Ellen Barkin, Vincent D’Onofrio
Score: 8 / 10
This review by Robert Nijman.
If ‘Training Day’ taught you anything, besides the obvious fact that Denzel is still the man, it should be that Antoine Fuqua knows how to bring the harsh realities of being an inner city cop to the big screen. His Oscar-winning drama – did I mention Denzel? – was followed by digressions into different genres, as the director followed the beaten path of war (‘Tears of the Sun’) and English mythology (‘King Arthur’) all the way to, erm, wrongfully accused soldiers on a vendetta (‘Shooter’). Although the latter did uncover the directors’ skill to revive the kind of action flick that is tagged with words like ‘honour’ and ‘justice’ as well as showcase astonishing marksmanship – the somewhat above average vendetta turned out to be either an intelligent ‘Commando’ or a poor man’s ‘Fugutive’ – it is good to see him return to the genre of his best work. The fact the one-time Playboy video director (Yes.) has chosen to cast ‘Training Day’ collaborator Ethan Hawke to re-enter the realm of the cop drama appears to be an obvious nod to their former project as well – ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’ is violent, uncompromising and gritty as hell.
The film opens with a character introduction that is as efficient as the movie’s synopsis. First off, there’s Sal (Hawke), an officer of the law in obvious financial distress who, it follows from his conversation with the drug peddling Carlo (D’Onofrio in a blink and you’ll miss him capacity), has less and less trouble with breaking the very laws he’s supposed to uphold. Cut to seasoned veteran Eddie (Gere), who wakes up in the morning with a glass of whiskey and a strong desire to shoot himself in the head before he hoists himself out of bed to start the very last week before his retirement. Cut to undercover cop Tango (Cheadle), who drives his luxury BMW protruding with gang members onto the parking lot of an apartment building in the Brooklyn projects, where sufficient amounts of drug dealers and police and ambulance personnel are onsite to give us the impression we’ve landed on a Spike Lee set. The feverish setting – the aftermath of a drug bust that resulted in a young black guy getting shot by a cop – would indeed haven’t been out of place in the characteristic universe of the Spike Lee movie, always ‘tainted’ by his personal vantage point of the unhinged sides of New York.
The film is structured around these troubled lawmen, as we follow them during an ‘ordinary’ week on the job. The story lines are inevitably linked, but do not find each other till some ways into the movie. It better enables you to sympathize with the individuals behind what could have easily been flat characterizations of dysphoric police officers. Especially Hawke impresses as the struggling husband and father of seven (!), who has to fend off temptations to run off with drugs and drug money on a daily basis, during the routine raids his outfit performs in many a godforsaken part of the city. His emotionally unbalanced Sal goes a long way in doing the right thing regardless of these enticements –up to the point his wife tells him she’s expecting twins, offsetting his risk averseness and law-abiding inclinations for the worse. Eddie on his end is linked to a bunch of rookies for whom the experienced patrolman appears to be a gateway to the tricks of the trade. No easy start yet for these young and eager pupils, as Eddie – modestly played by Gere – is counting the days until he can punch the clock for the last time and leave the department he no longer believes in or wants to fight for. The fact the still-mourning widower only lets liquor and a prostitute called Chantel into his personal space doesn’t help much either. Probably the most interesting role, however, is reserved for Cheadle. His undercover agent Tango (or detective Clarence Butler to his colleagues) has successfully penetrated the top of the local drug ring due to his friendship with crime boss Caz (Wesley Snipes in a role he seems to have proficiently copied from Idris Elba of ‘The Wire’ – a series that provides several cast members given the obvious similarities in location and story). He is about to break the case, eagerly awaiting both a long-overdue promotion as well as the end of his debilitating undercover existence. His relationship with Caz however, who once saved his life, plays tricks on him, further colouring the fine line between right and wrong a confusing shade of grey every day. Will he lose sight of his duties?
‘Brooklyn’s Finest’ is a strong police drama way above average, obtaining its strength not so much from a good story (which isn’t flawless – a strapped for cash drug enforcement officer with seven kids, and two more on the way?) as from its excellent cast, an oppressive atmosphere and the totally uncompromising attitude of the director. When the situation gradually escalates for all involved, as the sultry yet disquietingly hot nature of the New York summer takes its toll on everyone’s sanity (okay, last Spike Lee reference), Fuqua excels when he gets to bring his story to its climactic wrap-up. Putting his three leading roles – as a metaphor for the judiciary system in Brooklyn and the fubarness of parts of it – under extreme socio-political pressure, he takes no half measures when the final moments arrive. A compelling action thriller that has its grip on you from the commanding opening shots till way after the last guns are emptied.
