Brooklyn’s Finest
Flawed NYPD Officers Featured as "Brooklyn’s Finest"
Brooklyn's
Finest
Rated R for nudity, graphic sexuality, pervasive profanity, ethnic slurs,
drug use and gory violence.
Running time: 125 Minutes
Distributor: Overture Films
Film Review by Kam
Williams
Excellent (4 stars)
In recent years, Boston has provided the backdrop for a number of gritty
crime capers set in tight-knit communities, intimate character-driven dramas
such as Mystic River (2003), The Departed (2006), Gone Baby Gone (2007) and
What Doesn’t Kill You (2008). By comparison, New York contributions to the
genre tend to more action-oriented and revolve around crooked cops rather
than folks from the ‘hood. Just think of 16 Blocks (2006), Righteous Kill
(2008) and Pride and Glory (2008).
The latest contribution to the latter category is Brooklyn’s Finest, a
gruesome splatter flick from Antoine Fuqua, who directed Training Day
(2001), the similarly-graphic, Los Angeles saga which landed an Academy
Award for Denzel Washington. Though
unfolding on the East coast, this film trades in the same sort of profanity,
ethnic slurs and gratuitously-violent fare in service of high attrition-rate
fare designed for the blood sport demo.
What makes Brooklyn's Finest unique are its three discrete plotlines deftly
interwoven by first-time screenwriter Michael Martin into a delightful braid
with a nicely-engaging narrative. And the strands of the taut triskelion
remain fairly insulated until the exciting conclusion where the
protagonists’ paths finally cross.
One plaid of the cinematic cornrow examines the escalating
misfortunes both on the job and at home of Sal Procida (Ethan Hawke), a
police officer corrupted not so much by greed as by a need to provide for
his growing family on a cop’s salary. His house is not only too small for
four kids, but his asthmatic wife (Lily Taylor) is pregnant again, and with
twins to boot.
Furthermore, her obstetrician is warning that she might lose one of the
babies, if she continues to live in a structure infected with toxic mold.
So, can you really blame Sal for thinking about confiscating cash from drug
dealers, especially since, like a good Catholic, he confesses his sins to
Father Scarpitta (Bruce MacVittie) religiously?
The second story focuses on the equally-desperate plight of Tango Butler (Don
Cheadle) a detective who is so deep undercover that it’s taken a toll on
his personal life. He begs his boss (Will Patton) for a desk job, but is
referred to FBI Agent Smith (Ellen Barkin), a racist who makes that
reassignment contingent on his first setting up Casanova Phillips (Wesley
Snipes), an ex-con who’s recently returned to the streets after serving
eight years in a Federal prison. But because Caz once saved his life, Tang
is very reluctant to entrap the former friend.
Finally, there’s Eddie Dugan (Richard Gere), a jaded alcoholic just a week
away from retirement. He’s become so blas he won’t even bother to arrest a
perpetrator unless the crime is being committed in his precinct. Separated
from his wife, Eddie has been investing emotionally in Chantel (Shannon
Kane), the proverbial prostitute with a heart of gold and man-pleasing lips.
The tension in this unseemly scenario is wound around the question of
whether Chantel is willing to let Eddie make an honest woman out of her when
he moves to Connecticut.
Eventually, all roads in this cleverly-concealed, triangulated tale
serendipitously lead to some godforsaken projects in Brownsville where live
ammo is routinely employed as the ghetto equivalent of a calling card.
Bloody beyond compare, but definitely riveting for the duration provided
you’re willing to duck a few bullets. What more can you ask of a
multi-layered mystery?
An amoral morality play delivering the sobering message that crime does not
pay, not even for dirty cops.
Related Links
Wesley Snipes - Brooklyn's Finest Interview
http://aalbc.com/reviews/wesley_snipes.html
Don Cheadle -
The Brooklyn's Finest Interview
http://aalbc.com/reviews/don_cheadle2.htm