▶▶▶ Brooklyn's Finest [Blu-ray]

Brooklyn's Finest [Blu-ray] Review

Brooklyn's Finest is an outstanding, gritty thriller with lots of action, suspense and superlative acting. This is not for the faint of heart with all of its violence; but if you can stand it you will be amazed by this film. While some people have written that the film starts out slow and builds up the pace toward the end, the film grabbed me by the throat from the very word go and it never let go of me until the very final frame. The plot moves along at a very good pace and there's plenty of solid, well done character development. The cinematography and choreography shine all the way through and the script was well written. The casting was well done, too.

When the film starts, we soon meet three New York City police officers working in a very high crime section of Brooklyn where there is a public housing project, an incident of a cop killing a kid and drug dealing as well. Eddie has worked for 22 years on the force and he is now only 7 days away from retirement with a pension he has longed for even though by the time we meet him he's a shell of a man with a drinking problem, interpersonal difficulties with his estranged wife and few friends. Indeed, the only person Eddie truly connects with is a hooker named Chantel (played wonderfully by Shannon Kane). In addition, there's Tango (aka Clarence, played by Don Cheadle) who's been working undercover with drug dealers for so long he's having trouble remembering who he really is; Tango is desperate to get off the assignment with its street work and have a desk job as a detective. We also get to know Sal (Ethan Hawke) who is also desperate to get his wife and kids out of their dingy, moldy home into a much better one--so desperate, in fact, that Sal has actually been grabbing some of that drug money for himself, not caring what rules he breaks or who he harms in the process.

You may think I've given too much of the plot away but I assure you that I haven't. The only other thing I will tell you is that for quite some while in this film, the three principle characters (Eddie, Tango and Sal) lead separate lives but near the end they all converge with some degree of interaction at the troubled housing project in Brooklyn. The last 25 minutes or so of the film are both powerful and memorable; but there is quite a bit of violence so I wouldn't suggest this for young children.

In addition, the DVD comes with some great bonus features including deleted scenes; the theatrical trailer and featurettes including "Chaos & Conflict: The Life of a New York Cop;" "Boyz N the Real Hood;" "An Eye for Detail: Director Featurette" and "From the MTA to the WGA: Writer Featurette." Look also for superb performances by Brian F. O'Byrne as Officer Ronny Rosario; Lili Taylor as Sal's wife Angela and Ellen Barkin as Agent Smith.

Brooklyn's Finest paints a bleak picture of life both on the New York City police force and in the public housing projects of Brooklyn but a lot of what we see here is tragically all too real. I don't think poilce corruption and severe burnout is wide spread; but these are topics that deserve consideration. I highly recommend this film for fans of the actors in it; and people who enjoy gritty crime dramas and thrillers with dark themes will want to add this to their collections.

Brooklyn's Finest [Blu-ray] Overview

Something of a genre homecoming, Antoine Fuqua's latest film once again finds him delving into the gritty, brutal realm of cops and crooks—as he did in Training Day. Tango is an undercover officer on a narcotics detail that forces him to choose between duty and friendship. Having been to hell and back, he wants out, but the powers that be won't let him quit. Family-man Sal is a detective tempted by greed and corruption. He can barely make ends meet, and now his wife has an illness that threatens the life of their unborn twins. Eddie is nearing retirement age and has long since lost his dedication to his job as a cop. He wakes up every morning trying to come up with a reason to go on living...and he can't think of one. Fate brings the three men to the same Brooklyn housing project as each takes the law into his own hands. Crosscutting between multiple subplots, Brooklyn's Finest unfolds violently and passionately as coiled, constantly roving cinematography contributes a measure of unease to the underworld action.

Brooklyn's Finest [Blu-ray] Specifications

Fans of the grit of HBO's The Wire, as well as of the mean-streets story intersection plot of Crash, will find a lot to like in the intense crime drama Brooklyn's Finest. Directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) with a sure hand, Brooklyn's Finest follows three NYPD cops who come from very different places (geographically and personally) as their lives, and the compromises they have made daily to coexist with the mean streets of Brooklyn, dovetail to a climax that will have viewers on the edge of their seats. Fuqua has assembled a stellar cast here, including Richard Gere, a veteran cop just a week from retirement; the always amazing Don Cheadle, an undercover officer whose loyalties to the force may be compromised by his growing loyalties to the groups he's infiltrating; and the film's true revelation, Ethan Hawke, a young corrupt cop whose morals make the stomach turn, though Hawke's performance is nuanced and riveting. Supporting cast members include Wesley Snipes as a badass gangster whom even the police have second thoughts about messing with. Other great performances are turned in by Vincent D'Onofrio, whose wooden delivery works here to make his character all the more menacing; Lili Taylor; and a ravishing, world-weary Ellen Barkin. The action is propelled along by the great performances, the excellent cinematography, Fuqua's deft direction, and the moody score by Brazilian composer Marcelo Zarvos. If the plot is a little far-fetched, even for a crime drama, the stellar performances more than make up for it, making Brooklyn's Finest one of Fuqua's, and certainly Hawke's, finest. --A.T. Hurley

Stills from Brooklyn's Finest (Click for larger image)