Years ago, director Antoine Fuqua showed great promise with the truly excellent Training Day. Over the past few years he’s been unable to live up to that bart set with King Arthur, Tears of the Sun, and the even the decent B-movie Shooter. While most of those films suffered from studio interference, they still didn’t serve as the best follow-ups. Does Brooklyn’s Finest? For the most part, yes.
That’s not to say Brooklyn’s Finest is anything new or anything particularly great but, on its own terms, it’s a compelling enough drama and never divulges into becoming another “dumb” cop drama. It obviously falls into plenty of conventions (more than a few actually) but it never plays out as cliche after cliche. There’s still the antagonizing higher power official, played in a not-so-subtle manner by Ellen Barkin, that makes one feel as if they’re watching scenes from South Park where they’re parodying cop films. Moments like that come off as more comedic.
The story follows three cops: the burnt out Eddie (Richard Gere), the cop desperate for money, Sal (Ethan Hawke), and the undercover cop Tango (Don Cheadle). Do those sound like characters you’ve seen before? That’s because they are. But they’re handled well and never feel like cardboard characters. Cheadle and Hawke are very good while Gere delivers a far better performance than some of his more recent work. Put simply, it’s closer to The Hunting Party and The Hoax and not his work in Shall We Dance?.
They’re all connected in one particular way: they’re all characters put under pressure. Sal doesn’t make enough money to support his family; Tango is being forced to turn on a friend; Eddie is someone who’s mental state isn’t the best due to the fact he’s been put in situations that haven’t given him the best outlook on humanity. All their stories are engaging, despite a somewhat cringe-inducing subplot involving Eddie and a prostitute. It certainly adds more to his sense of desperation, but there’s already enough there to get that across.
The one thing Brooklyn’s Finest really could’ve benefited from: more time. At times it feels rushed and doesn’t take its time. Fuqua has crafted a world that has plenty of things going on and you wish he’d let you stay there longer. Instead, the certain aspects feel a tad messy and rushed. There’s also the matter of the ending. While the last few minutes are ballsy and even ambitious, the last frame is utterly baffling and laughable. It deals with Eddie. His fate doesn’t fit in with what happens to Sal and Tango. (Heavy Spoilers) The film ends with a freeze frame of Eddie succeeding and getting redemption after saving the day, the exact ending that Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans hilariously poked fun at. The original ending that Fuqua shot, which involved Eddie committing suicide, makes plenty of more sense than what’s ultimately on screen. (Heavy Spoilers Over)
Fuqua is talented. While many would argue against that, considering hist post-Training Day work, all of his films have at least featured a sign of a competent filmmaker. Here, he shows even more to prove that. The main shortcomings of the film i.e. the handfull of cliches and the somewhat mess story he’s to blame for, but Fuqua certifies himself as an interesting visual storyteller. Throughout he fills the screen with symbolic shots and images with actually subtlety. He ties many of these shots into the themes and even the characters. When Tango is being pulled between friendship and his job, Fuqua shows a shot of him standing infront of mirrors casting a batch of reflections- again, he’s conveying how pulled apart he is. It’s very Brian De Palma-esque. He covers similar themes and is, like De Palma, a visual storyteller.
This may not be Training Day, but this is (thankfully) far from another Pride and Glory. There’s plenty to admire here, especially the climax (last shot excluded), and all the more memorable aspects make up for some of the generic storytelling tropes. There’s certainly room for improvement, but it’s difficult to deny that Brooklyn’s Finest is a solid drama.