Film Review -- Brooklyn's Finest (R)

Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Released March 5, 2010

Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) watched The Wire and believed that he could depict something similar in Brooklyn’s Finest. Never could this once talented director have been more wrong. From beginning to end this was an atrocious film. From poor casting to poor writing, there is no reason to waste your time watching this regurgitated unoriginal movie.

The story of Brooklyn’s Finest is about police officers in Brooklyn that patrol the fictitious Brooklyn projects where drug dealers are in control. It is a tale that we have seen before - but never has it been this unrealistic. There is NOTHING believable besides the character of Tango played by Don Cheedle. A run down half assed drunk cop Eddie played by Richard Gere is one failure that could have been prevented by proper casting, along with Sal the wannabe sinister detective played by the predictably terrible Ethan Hawke.

To complete the worst casting in any movie of the twenty-first century Fuqua placed Wesley Snipes as the recently incarcerated Caz. Since Snipes defined the American drug kingpin as Nino Brown in New Jack City (1991) he has fallen very far. Considering Snipes’ personal problems with debt my only rationalization is that Fuqua wanted to give him a check. Regardless of the reasoning, it didn’t work. Snipes character Caz was more casual than when he played Willie Mays Hayes in Major League.

For all the people who loved The Wire and consider it one of the greatest television series ever, there is a reunion of its cast in Brooklyn’s Finest. Michael K. Williams, whose amazing portrayal of homo-thug assassin Omar in The Wire, is given a good role in this film as Red. Hassan Johnson who was a fan favorite in The Wire as Wee-Bey played an identical character as Beamer in Brooklyn’s Finest. The only disappointing cameo from The Wire was Isiah Whitlock Jr. (Sen. Clay Davis) who played an Investigator but hardly said, “Sheeeeit.” There were probably more actors from The Wire but they were hard to notice as no scene lasted longer than two minutes.

When Brooklyn’s Finest begins to advertise for its DVD release soon don’t believe the hype. A decent trailer resulted in a bunk movie that truly takes away from life (almost two hours) and adds nothing. Antoine Fuqua needs a new casting director and a fresh idea besides corrupt cops and drugs. This flick attempts to exploit the great city of Brooklyn that simply shares the plight as all other American urban areas.

0 out of 4