BROOKYLN’S FINEST (USA 2009) **
Directed by Antonio Faqua

Director Antonio Fuqua gets more ambitious in the familiar cop/hood/drug territory of TRAINING DAY with BROOKLYN’S FINEST.  The film tells three separate tales of 3 of the city’s cops with an ending that calls for the three to converge on a common location for the climax.

First, there is frustrated, soon-to-retire Eddie (a brooding Richard Gere) who if not wallowing in self-pity is screwing his favourite snow snorting hooker.  He is one week from retirement, but he always seems partnered with some rookie just out of the academy.  Then there is the undercover Tango (Don Cheadle) whose dilemma is already portrayed too well in THE DEPARTED.  The third is crooked narcotics officer, Sal (Ethan Hawk delivering his best performance), stealing drug money to keep his finances afloat to support his family.  In movies, there is always some redeeming good in every character.  But in Faqua’s world, it is the opposite; there is a little corruption in everyone.

The film begins with a conversation heard as the camera sweeps slowly down Brooklyn.  The talk is about right and righter and wrong and wronger, with one explaining that there is no right or wrong.  Not that this is revolutionary educational knowledge, but the stories’ common thread is this point, which Faqua goes on time and again to demonstrate.  State a point, go on and on about it!  What ever happened to subtlety or benefit given to audience intelligence? 

Faqua’s movie is overlong at 140 minutes.  Usually dwelling on one particular character draws out the audience’s sympathies and concern.  But the problem is that the material is familiar – the undercover cop with the identity crisis (INFERNAL AFFAIRS, THE DEPARTED); the overworked city cop (WITNESS, almost every other cop movie) and the dirty cop (TRAINING DAY) – and it gets tiresome after a while.  For example, Hawke’s Officer Sal is dead broke and he wants a better life for his family and two kids.  But the script (Michael C. Martin’s first) has to add the wife expecting, not one but twins.  Then, she is hospitalized for wood mould that would harm the unborn twins if they do not move immediately to a new place.  Yes, one that Sal has already promised to have down payment on.  The audience gets the point already!

Yet, BROOKLYN’S FINEST contains good street dialogue, accurate and credible sets (the drug dens) and near-perfect performances especially from Hawke and Wesley Snipes. 

What could have been a classic gangster epic turns out to be a film that looks like a rip-off of CRASH with unrelated (righter or wronger) stories loosely tied together.  BROOKYLN’S FINEST serves to that a good idea and well-written dialogue are not the only elements of a good script.