Brooklyn's Finest (2010)

This film isn't difficult to watch because as a viewer you assume multiple characters are being built separately to eventually combine. The building part is not done badly, the acting is OK, and the music builds some tension. But then they the multiple stories never combine. The film just ends. 2 stars for basic film/acting quality, 1 extra because I actually found it funny how bad this story is.

This film tells the story of three Brooklyn policemen who have very different career paths. One is undercover, another is rogue and the third is about to retire in a few days. Their paths cross unexpectedly and tragically in a separate incidents that converge into one."Brooklyn's Finest" somehow does not keep me interested in it. The characters are mostly unlikable and unsympathetic, and I cannot connect with any of them. Their world and my world are vastly different, and I cannot relate to the characters at all. As a result, I could not get into the story at all. I find the story convoluted and lacking in an emotional climax despite what happens at the end. Perhaps the film is a good film, but it is not for me.

There are so many clichés in this thriller, which somewhat overshadows some fine performances.Don Cheadle plays the cop undercover who feels a strong allegiance to a drug dealer (Wesley Snipes) that saved his life. He is trying to get out of the game, due to what it has cost him in terms of his family. He wants to make detective first grade, but he has to betray his friend in order to attain the life he wants.Ethan Hawke plays a cop who is breaking the law in order and taking money from drugs raids in order to save up to buy a house for sick wife & his growing family.Richard Gere play a burnt out cop with only a week left to retirement. He's seeing a prostitute whom he eventually falls for and drinking a lot. He is forced to take on a rookie partner due to a new training programme brought in. He tells his seniors he doesn't want this that he is not someone to look up to and a role model for the younger officers but they tell him its a new programme and he fits the requirements due to his experience.

Brooklyn's Finest is an urban morality tale where director Antoine Fuqua visits themes he dealt in Training Day and here includes Ethan Hawke now playing a veteran cop with money troubles, a large family, crummy house and tempted to steal drugs money to makes ends meet.Richard Gere is a cop on the verge of retirement playing it safe much to the annoyance of a new partner he has to babysit and it looks even his colleagues have little respect for him. Gere's only comfort is a close relationship with a prostitute.Don Cheadle is a cop in deep cover, maybe undercover for too long, he wants out, a promotion but he trusts his superiors less than he does the gangsters he is mingling with.Like the film Crash, the lives of these three cops and their storyline collide and it may not lead to a happy ending.The story is not original and difficult to do with a fresh twist so relies on its performances. All three leads with a supporting cast that includes Wesley Snipes and Ellen Barkin do well, even the minor roles are effective.I guess Gere is probably too old to play even a cop on the verge of retirement but he seems to be the heart of the film, someone who burnt out years ago but wants to find long term happiness when he retires and makes one last attempt in being a cop and take a risk.