Brooklyn’s Finest is an immensely frustrating film. While it never does anything to set itself apart from so many other cop dramas you’ve seen involving dirty cops, the lack of pay for their public service and the overall effect dealing with the scum of the Earth can do to a person, it actually does a decent job building up a group of characters that represent these certain aspects of the profession. And then it throws it all away in an ending that was too long in the coming to begin with and made it even worse by just giving up on everything it had developed to that point.
After directing the Oscar-winning Training Day in 2001 it seems Antoine Fuqua can’t find his footing and while Brooklyn’s Finest serves as a return to similar territory, it doesn’t come close to living up to its predecessor. Starring a large list of recognizable names, including Training Day‘s Ethan Hawke, Brooklyn’s Finest revolves around a depressed retiring cop (Richard Gere), an undercover cop (Don Cheadle) and a cop (Hawke) that needs more money to take care of his pregnant wife and four kids. Admittedly, a cop with four kids and twins on the way doesn’t have much room to complain when he finds out he’s low on cash, but I like Ethan Hawke so to that point the film gets a pass.
Where the movie loses its way is when screenwriter Michael C. Martin decides, after building a complex world of emotions, it is just too hard to see things through to the end. In short, he gives up. His decision to turn what amounted to a decent human drama into a mess of a finale is insulting, especially given the film runs nearly two hours before we find out this is how our protagonists decide to deal with their problems. It’s like watching two people argue and after one side makes a valid point, the confused Neanderthal they’re talking to starts throwing punches because he can’t articulate a proper response. If I wanted to watch ignorance I’d turn on “Jerry Springer”.
Along the way there are hints this thing is going to devolve, but they are admittedly few. One such example would be an extremely comedic exchange between Gere and the prostitute (Shannon Kane) he’s seeing regularly when she asks, “You going to tell me what’s wrong or do I need to suck it out of you?” What follows is perhaps the funniest onscreen depiction of oral sex I’ve ever seen and the chuckling crowd I saw it with would probably agree.
In fact, Gere’s character is the weakest of the bunch and that’s pretty much an assured thing from the moment we meet him. Abruptly waking from his slumber in a bed without sheets, he takes a swig of whiskey from the glass on his night stand before putting an unloaded revolver in his mouth and pulls the trigger. The character is laughably cliche (as is a lot of this movie), but you stick with it because, for the most part, it works. Sure, it’s B-level melodrama, but you’re willing to work with it. The stories of Cheadle and Hawke aren’t much different, but neither of them is contemplating suicide, which I guess is good for something.
Before going in, I wondered how Wesley Snipes would hold up after a recent direct-to-DVD stint, but he fits the mood, conjuring up memories of his New Jack City heyday. And as far as performances go, only those by Will Patton and Ellen Barkin are overcooked, but their screen time is negligible, which makes it of little concern. Then again, none of that matters; the acting in this film is never the problem.
Brooklyn’s Finest has a solid marketing campaign behind it. The trailers look great and the voice over saying, “From the director of Training Day,” would have me heading to the theaters if I were in your shoes no matter the reviews. Unfortunately, while the majority of this film presents a story that’s decent enough with the gritty appearance and tension Fuqua is known for, the ending simply ruins it. It’s as if everything you watched before it meant nothing. How much that affects your overall opinion of the film is up to you, but for me it left a sour taste in my mouth.
