Freelancers (2012)

Three boys from the hood were taken out of jail and enrolled in the police academy by a cougar named Lydia (Desperate Housewife Dana Delany). Malo's (50 Cents) father was once in the police force. The three graduates are assigned to crooked cop Joseph Sarcone (Robert De Niro) who deals drugs and skims on the takes. They become part of the bad cop crime scene.The plot develops as we discover both Lydia's husband and Malo's father were murdered. Malo has two love interests in this film, neither of which was acting. Anabelle Acosta plays his childhood sweetheart...when he was a thug and Beau Garrett is a bar tender at a special bad boy cop bar who like Malo likes peanut butter.For those who like crooked cop dramas, this one pasts the smell test, largely due to the strength of the supporting cast. 50 Cents' performance was far from credible and weighed down the film. He needs to learn his productions would do better if he wasn't in them.PARENTAL GUIDE: F-bomb, sex, party girls nudity, n-word.

How good should this film have been(?) Starring Robert De Niro and Forest Whitaker, two great American actors, and 50'Cent Curtis Jackson who I've noticed acting well in other films, this should have been, at the least, a satisfyingly good film. So when I saw The Sony Movie Channel was airing it I thought I'd give it a view.DAMN! This was bad! If I were any of the actors I wouldn't even consider putting this on my resume. Robert De Niro played the leader of a group of bad cops, Joe Sarcone, who recruits Malo, Curtis Jackson, and his friends. These had previously been thugs who had supposedly seen the light but were very quick to jump on board Sarcone's ship (so much for the good guys) Milo is paired with LaRue, Forest Whitaker, who is a drug addict and will let anybody off if he can score from them. Even though he's not openly racist he does have a hatred for whites. This is balanced off by a minor player in the film, Billy Morrison, played brilliantly by Matt Gerald (who is the only acting light in this dire movie), as he has a hatred for anyone not white and is very vocal and aggressive about it.The only good cop in the whole film is Terrence Burke, played by Robert Wisdom. He tries to keep his distance from the others and even gets his rookie partner A D, Malcolm Goodwin, to help him train the kids in his area at football. The only community-minded cop in the city, it would appear. Even when the cop who's pursuing Sarcone's mob, Robert Jude (played by Michael McGrady) tries to recruit Malo by telling him what really happened to his father, you get the sense that he isn't as clean as he should be.This is a pretty depressing tale that paints the majority of police in a bad light stating that most of them are corrupt and on the take. If I were in this city I'd not ask a policeman directions because they would direct you down an alley, shoot you in the back and steal all your valuables.The writer, L Phillipe Casseus, gives the audience a bleak tale of greed and depravity in the police force. This isn't a bad thing, it's been done before; though, it's been done better. The fault, I believe, lies with the director Jessy Terrero, who probably only got the job because he'd worked with Jackson before.Most of the scenes are slapdash and so brilliantly set out. Jackson, most of the time, stumbles around the sets without an idea of what his character is about. There is one hell of a lot to Malo and giving the role to a newbie, without proper direction, was a bad decision. De Niro is at his shouty best here; stomping around, hitting and shooting things. Even though it's nice to see him go berserk he just does it too much - poor guy must have needed some lockets afterwards to soothe his throat.Forest Whitaker is brilliant as the drug-addled cop... so good that he actually does appear to have been on something. It was probably needed to get through this rubbish with most of his sanity intact. But it really didn't help the movie any, it just made his lines seem slurred and indistinguishable.If you like any of the actors or cop drama's then I would recommend you to stay away from this pile of diatribe.

'Freelancers' is a so-so fare, that has some merit, but it isn't fully loaded either. 'Freelancers' Synopsis: The son of a slain NYPD officer joins the force, where he falls in with his father's former partner and a team of rogue cops.'Freelancers' rests on a clichéd plot. The ever-lasting tale of of an honest cop & his battle with corrupt cops/gangsters/thief's has been depicted on the big screen an umpteen number of times. So in terms of novelty, 'Freelancers' has none of it. However, a few dramatic moments are skillfully executed, which certainly deserve a mention.L. Philippe Casseus's Screenplay is average. Jessy Terrero's Direction is decent. Action-Sequences are nicely executed. Performance-Wise: 50 Cent makes a sincere attempt to justify his part. De Niro is in his element. Forest Whitaker doesn't get much scope. On the whole, 'Freelancers' is an okay watch.

This movie is an overall quite entertaining and mostly fast paced action thriller that though lacks of depth. The story simply features too many stereotypes and is therefor sometimes even mildly amusing even if this surely wasn't the intention of the makers of this b-movie.The film is about three crooks that get out of prison and get to work in the corrupt New York City Police Department. Soon, they get involved in the local crime scene and must learn how to survive in tough circumstances where nobody's left whom they can trust in. At the same time, the main character portrayed by a weak but not completely bad Curtis James Jackson III wants to resolve the secret of his father's assassination that he witnessed as a child.The problem with this movie is that it almost has no clear guiding line and some events happen without any logical reason whatsoever. Sometimes, the characters rapidly change their moods and appear almost schizophrenic which is very odd. Apart of a slightly stronger and even quite entertaining ending, at least three quarters of the movie go straight to nowhere or are highly predictable. Most of the actors and especially the cop roles are simply not credible at all and even happen to be quite ridiculous. Sometimes, the movie just feels like a longer 50 Cent video clip with senseless violence, gratuitous sex, a very minimalistic story line and some cameo appearances by a couple of good actors such as the strong Robert De Niro or the now deceased and surprisingly convincing actor Pedro Armendáriz Junior where one ends up asking oneself why these gifted guys are starring in such a bad movie.In the end, there isn't much interest in watching this film. Especially the story is quite random and predictable. The low budget flick features almost more shots of nocturnal New York City every ten minutes that are taken from a plain than gripping action or suspense scenes. The only reason to watch this flick are the solid appearances of Robert De Niro as well as Pedro Armendáriz Junior or if you simply are a big fan of 50 Cent. Objectively seen, his acting is of a rather average quality and lacks of emotion and quality but he surely has a quite cool image and mostly promotes himself and his music in this movie. You can grab this flick at a cheap price for a loan if you have not much else to do and want to switch your brain off for one hour and a half but apart of that there definitely isn't much in this.