Brooklyn’s Finest follows the lives of three troubled New York police officers over a one-week period.  Twenty-two year veteran Eddie Dugan (Richard Gere) contemplates suicide as he nears retirement.  Narcotics officer Sal Procida (Etahn Hawke) discovers that he is willing to break the law, even commit murder, in order to give his large family a better life.  And, deep undercover cop Clarence “Tango” Butler (Don Cheadle) just wants his life back.

For better or worse, each man’s life will reach its climax by week’s end.

CRITIQUE

Director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), with a script by first-time writer Michael C. Martin, delivers another gritty, violent and riveting cop drama about three officers facing life-defining crises.

There is really nothing new in the basic set-up of this picture.  We’ve all seen these kinds of cops before: the veteran uniformed officer, counting the days until is retirement, the undercover cop and the narcotics officer who has crossed over to “the dark side”.

What makes this film interesting is that these three overly familiar “types,” who never really interact in the picture except in the most inadvertent manner, are constantly surprising us by their actions.  We do not know how these individual stories will end until the final credits roll.

Officer Dugan (Gere), separated from his wife, drinks on the job, visits a prostitute at night and does his best to avoid dealing with the rampant crime around him.  However, once he has actually retired, he puts his life at risk to redeem his career of indifference.

Officer Butler (Cheadle) has been working undercover to bring down drug gangs (even in prison) so long that he has lost all remnants of his personal life.  His wife has divorced him, and now his superiors want him to set-up former drug kingpin Caz (Wesley Snipes).  Butler must now decide where his true loyalties lie, with the Department or with the man who had saved his life in prison.

Officer Procida (Hawke), on the other hand, is doomed right from the movie’s opening scene.  Tragically, with a large loving family, he has more to live for than the other two cops, but there is no hope.  His story has to end badly.  We just don’t know how it will happen.

Director Fuqua’s location filming brings s strong, frightening sense of reality to the proceedings.

The actors, particularly Hawke, deliver remarkable, award-worthy performances, and a fine cast of players, including Will Patton, Lili Taylor and Ellen Barkin, supports them.

My complaints on this film are minor.  The running time could have been a bit shorter and, like with most movies these days that deal with drug gangs, it’s often difficult to understand what these particular characters are saying.

THE VIDEO

The widescreen image is crisp and sharp.

THE AUDIO

The Dolby Digital 5.1 Sound is crystal clear.

THE EXTRAS

Audio Commentary by director Antoine Fuqua.

Several interesting, albeit unnecessary Deleted Scenes and two Alternate Endings that were better left unused.

Four Featurettes, each 5-6 minutes in length, that show “Behind the Scenes” footage from the viewpoint of the director, writer, plus the cops and people who live and work in Brooklyn.

FINAL THOUGHT

This is a gritty, quite violent “cops-and-robbers” movie; well done, but it could have been fifteen minutes shorter.