Brooklyn's Finest

Seen at: Cinemark, Ft. Collins, today at 3:30 pm

This was a spontaneous visit to the Cinemark that resulted in an on-the-spot purchase of a ticket for this movie. It was on my list for this week anyway, since it is leaving Fort Collins after Thursday, according to Google movies.

I made a note at the end that it was directed by Antoine Fuqua. I was impressed in many ways with this movie and wanted to know who was behind the making of it. It was mostly well written too.

I had seen a single trailer to this, and knew little about it. It turns out to be a drama about three Brooklyn cops (played by Ethan Hawke, Richard Gere, and Don Cheadle). It follows their stories over a week, which coincides with the last week of service for Gere's character, before his retirement.

Yes, it's a cliche. For the first twenty minutes of this movie I was worried it would be just one cliche after another. But it mostly moved beyond cliche, although the director liked using the obvious pop song during several scenes (like using "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane in a scene where Gere's character is snorting coke in a whorehouse).

Yes, Gere in a whorehouse. His sex scene somewhat rivals the recent raunchy one by Nic Cage in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.

The three substories were entertaining and full of narrative momentum. At one point it occurred to me that this was covering much of the same ground as The Departed, but was a much better film in many ways, albeit a less ambitious one.

The movie let me down in the climax, where the three substories come together. Fuqua falls apart. He goes "full Scorcese." The movie degenerates into a triple version of Taxi Driver. Each of the three stories ended on a somewhat overwhelming note, and the resolution of the Cheadle story was simply wrong, and should have been rewritten.

It was certainly a pleasure to see one of my favorite contemporary actors, Wesley Snipes, out of the federal pen and back on the screen where he belongs. Fittingly, he's a ex-con, just back from Clinton in Upstate New York. His supporting role was fairly easy for him, but provided much of the life of the movie in Act Two.

Also a strong performance by Ellen Barkin as a ball-busting bitch fed. Someone along the line had a sense of humor, having Gere sing "Sea of Love" not to Barkin's character, but to a prostitute. Wink. Wink.