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Brooklyn’s Finest Stars: Richard Gere, Don Cheadle,, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Brian F. O’Byrne, Will Patton, Lili Taylor and Ellen Barkin Director: Antoine Fuqua Scriptwriter: Michael C. Martin Composer: Marcelo Zarreas Cinematographer: Patrick Murguia Overture Films Rating: R for violence, language, nudity and themed material Running Length: 134 minutes Director Antoine Fuqua showed us the lives of police officers in Training Day that also starred Ethan Hawke. Both are back with the story of police officers, only this time, there are three policeman who start coming to the same area on the same day at the same time. Tension builds. Richard Gere is a world-weary officer who is due to retire in seven days. All he wants to do is stay under the radar until then, however, he is selected to break-in a rookie cop. They don’t get along, and the next day, the rookie requests another cop, which ends in tragedy. Richard feels guilt but doesn’t really know how to process it. Ethan Hawke is a live-wire person who is married to Lili Taylor and they have several children with more (twins) on the way. He needs a larger home and fast. To get the down payment, Ethan is shooting drug dealers and taking their money, he feels guilt, but also, doesn’t know how to process it. His friend, Brian F. O’Byrne helps, but is suspicious of Ethan. Don Cheadle has been an undercover cop for so long he can’t find his way out. He has protected drug dealer Wesley Snipes and Snipes has protected him. They have a friendship, but Cheadle is under pressure to get out and give Snipes up. Will Patton and Ellen Barkin are the two higher-up officials on Snipes trail. The stories of the three officers start to come together when Gere sees a photo of a missing girl and begins to remember where he saw her. Ethan plans one more hit for money and Cheadle is trying to protect Snipes but get other drug dealers, too. These cops have no compunction about pulling the trigger and this is a violent world on the streets. Women are usually playthings, profanity is the language of the day and cocaine is abundant. This is a dark Brooklyn film, both in photographic night scenes and storyline. My only comment is that sometimes it is hard to tell who is speaking to who in the night scenes. Richard Gere has lines in his face and drinks booze to get himself up in the morning. You wonder how he lasted so long as a cop. What a lonely existence, yet somewhere there still is a man. Don Cheadle, soft-spoken and the peace-maker of his gang, has quite a friendship with Wesley Snipes, who is also soft-spoken. When they discuss details of an operation, it is like two businessmen at work, and violence is in another territory. Ethan Hawke is a loose cannon and dual personality. He is the person who is ready to blow apart. Home and kids with a smiling face and frowning, plus handy with a gun on the other side. The four actors did a great job of conveying conflict and emotion. With the exception of Ellen Barkin as a take-no-prisoners police official, women just come and go in the film. Brooklyn’s Finest shows us that we are far from winning the drug war, that young girls are prey and loyalties happen on both sides of the law. Your brother can be blood or in friendship. And the church is there for confession---to a certain extent. With small twists and turns, writer Michael C. Martin brings the story together and we see the daily, and violent, activities of police officers on both ends of the age spectrum. Copyright 2010 Marie Asner
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