“Brooklyn’s” is Ambitious, but Falters

SPOILER WARNING. Some parts of the following article reveal major plot lines.

Antoine Fuqua’s new film, “Brooklyn’s Finest,” has an ambitious spirit behind it but a terrible script gives the talented cast nothing to work with, and it shows.

The film follows three sub-plots (nope, there isn’t an overall plot). Sub-plot one involves Eddie Dugan (Richard Gere), a cop who is seven days from retirement. His superior makes him take rookie cops into the Brownsville section of Brooklyn to break them in the hard way.

Sub-plot two involves Sal Procida (Ethan Hawke), a cop who has been pocketing drug money so that he can get a new house for his big family. Sub-plot three follows Tango (Don Cheadle), an undercover cop, who is being assigned a case to turn in his friend Caz Phillips (Wesley Snipes).

“Brooklyn’s Finest” works a lot like “Crash,” but not with as much success. The cast gives some mediocre performances, but it’s probably not their fault. The script is riddled with clichés, and without an overarching plot, the plot seems very disjointed. It’s almost like three movies that wouldn’t have been able to fill up an hour and half on their own were taken and smooshed together.

What’s worse is, if each plot had been giving a little more time they each could have been more enjoyable. But, the movie runs at an overly long 133 minutes and any more time added would have made the film more unbearable.

The point that was most unwatchable was a very awkward sex scene with Richard Gere. If a sex scene furthers the plot or is artistically needed, by all means put it in. This scene, however, doesn’t do either of those and just seems thrown in for the act of adding nudity.

The movie isn’t entirely unwatchable, with a few scenes that shine. It’s kind of nice to see Wesley Snipes acting in a major movie release, but his role is the most clichéd of all. Cheadle gives the best performance, although that’s not saying much. The music constantly tries to build up the tension but nothing ever happens to warrant it.

In a very Shakespearean way, everyone dies in the end except Gere. This seems like the writer couldn’t figure out something and wrote himself into a corner. It’s incredibly cheap and feels forced down the viewers throats. The deaths seem like they are suppose to be symbolic, but the symbolism is blatant and feels like another cheap trick.

Overall, “Brooklyn’s Finest” gets a 2 out of 5.