Editorial
Front Page - Friday, March 26, 2010
The Critic's Corner
David Laprad
One of the most impressive things you’ll see in a movie is when an actor tells you everything you need to know about his character without saying a word.
Take Richard Gere’s expression in the new police drama, “Brooklyn’s Finest,” for example. From the moment his character, Eddie, takes a swallow of whiskey as he rolls out of bed, Gere’s face is frozen in a thousand-yard stare that’s as lifeless as a corpse. Actors generally win awards for simulating intense emotions, but I’d bet my weight in gold it’s harder for an actor to appear dead inside.
Thankfully, just about everything else in “Brooklyn’s Finest” is as good as that stare.
Gere plays Eddie, a cop who’s seven days from retirement after 22 undistinguished years with New York City’s 65th precinct. He doesn’t seem thrilled about his impending departure, either, as the scene in which he puts a gun into his mouth and pulls the trigger suggests. There are no bullets in the weapon, but it’s clear Eddie doesn’t have much to look back on, nor is he looking forward to what lies ahead.
Sadly, he’s in better shape than the other two cops in the film: Sal and Tango. Played by Ethan Hawke, Sal is a tortured Catholic who’s bit off more than he can chew.
The movie opens with him murdering a nameless reprobate and making off with the cash he was carrying; the next time we see Sal, he’s telling two of his sons he’s buying a bigger house. In one of the rare lighter touches in “Brooklyn’s Finest,” more and more kids keep popping up in different scenes, including the twins to which his wife is about to give birth. The weight on Sal’s shoulders, however, has driven him to a reckless place, where he’ll do almost anything to support his family.
Then there’s Don Cheadle’s Tango, an undercover cop who’s so deep in, the lines are blurring. He wants out, but his boss tells him to set up a crime lord named Caz first. Caz and Tango go way back, which makes it easy for Tango to worm his way into his friend’s operation, although sleep is hard to come by.
While these stories don’t intersect, they all portray men in desperate circumstances. Eddie realizes he has nothing to show for having lived and worked so long, and sets out to redeem himself. I won’t reveal what he does, although I will say it produces the film’s best scene.
Although Sal has no one but himself to blame for his predicament, he does generate some sympathy early on. There’s a moment, though, when it finally seems there’s no line he won’t cross. Remarkably, Hawke and director Antoine Fuqua get to that point without stretching the bounds of believability.
Then there’s Tango, who wants to do the right thing, but isn’t sure which side of the fence that would involve. Does he betray Caz and lock a criminal behind bars or sacrifice a promotion and tell his friend to run?
As you can probably tell, “Brooklyn’s Finest” is packed with dramatic tension. That’s due in large part to what must have been a solid screenplay. While the final act relies too heavily on coincidence and shock value, the film held me in a tight grip for most of its running time.
Another big part of the success of the movie is Fuqua’s direction. Like he did with “Training Day,” Fuqua takes viewers into a world most people will never see. It’s a place where one person’s regard for another person’s life is no heavier than a bullet, where sex, drugs and brutality blend together into a sordid morass of inhumanity and where gangster rap is the electricity that powers the streets. I felt uneasy while watching “Brooklyn’s Finest,” which means Fuqua did his job well.
I also admire the performances. I like how Eddie seems confident while wearing his uniform, but looks as though he’s never held a gun when he tries to resolve a sticky situation in civilian clothes. Hawke generally lacks charisma as an actor, but Fuqua brings something out of him that’s raw and genuine. As for Cheadle, he elevates everyone and everything around him. I also enjoyed seeing Snipes, who plays Caz, after his long absence from theatrical films. Ellen Barkin strikes the cast’s only discordant note in an embarrassing performance as one of Tango’s superiors.
“Brooklyn’s Finest” is the kind of movie most people will say they didn’t like. A lot of that will have to do with the world in which it’s set; the nihilistic ending will also have a negative impact on many viewers. But it’s good, and it’s going to stay with me for a long time, like the look on Eddie’s face.
Email David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald
.com.
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