Brooklyn's Finest

Brooklyn's finest aren't great, good, fine or even okay. Brooklyn's finest are horrible. Stars like Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke and Don Cheadle could have, and should have, created such a better film. This film never created an attachment to the characters, never got off of the ground and never makes any attempt for anything.

Just a quick note: The number of cliches in this film is almost enough to bring up vomit. Not that I was ever counting, but I bet that it would of been more than six. Richard Gere stars as Eddie, the mother of the most hated cliche in Hollywood. The retiring cop with days left on the force. My God, that cliche is more tired than the horror movie "the boyfriend is the killer" one. Ethan Hawke stars as Sal and his character is just another cliche. Not as severe as Gere's, but still. Hawke's character is the one dealing with the money problems and the religious problems. The one that is so far gone that he doesn't want any help while everyone around is trying to help him. Another quick note: I think Ethan Hawke is great and he is on the top of my favorite actors list. Next up is Don Cheadle starring as Tango. Yes, don't worry his charatcer comes with a cliche too. He's the guy who goes so deep undercover that he starts questioning who the good and bad guys are. Wesley Snipes also stars as Caz, a man that Tango (Cheadle) knows in the gang underground. The film just goes back and forth and back and forth and back and forth between the three of their story lines, all climaxing in one building. While it is true that all cliches are obvious and overdone, I can still watch a film full of them. What's nice is when a film brings something new and original (or at least a new and original feeling) to the cliches. This film makes no attempt what so ever to do that. It is cliches just in black and white. It's disappointing that especially with such a great actor like Richard Gere that this film couldn't make any less of an attempt to get the audience feeling for and attached to the characters. This is definitely one of the worst performances that I have seen Richard Gere do. He brings nothing to the character. He's a veteran cop with 22 years on the force with days left to retire, his wife is gone and he's always debating suicide. Yes, that's a cliched but great written character, however Gere brings nothing to it. It's not just him though. Hawke and Cheadle really aren't selling their characters either. The ending is nothing amazing either. The whole time I was thinking that the film could save itself with a worthwhile ending. No, it couldn't even do that. The ending might have been the worst part of the whole film. On top of the fact that their isn't one believable character in the film, it's got more cliches than a old Hollywood Western film, the ending sucks, it's also way too long. I think that it's equally as long as Shutter Island and maybe 25 minutes shorter than Avatar. When you go for a long film with nothing to sell, that makes the film even worse because at least when the film is short and sucks the misery doesn't last long. Unfortunately, here in Brooklyn it's slow and somehow drags on for 133 minutes.

It's really too bad about Brooklyn's Finest. I was expecting at least a decent film but unfortunately all you get are characters that are more hollow than a cave. The script does have some problems, but it was definitely the acting that had more problems. If Gere, Hawke and Cheadle had been able to come together and give the best performances of their career this could have been a pretty great cop drama. However, this is the three of them at some of their worst. I was not sold that this is "real life" like other cop dramas are so good at doing. Some cop films can get it right, others can't. Too bad that Brooklyn's Finest sets a new low of not being able to get it right.

Final Verdict: D-