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Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Vincent D'Onofrio ... see more see more... , Brian F. O'Byrne , Will Patton , Michael Kenneth Williams , Lili Taylor , Shannon Kane , Ellen Barkin , Wass W. Stevens , Armando Riesco , Wade Allain-Marcus , Logan Marshall-Green , Hassan Johnson , Jas Anderson , John D'Leo , George DeNoto , Alison Cordaro , Francesca Carchia , Raquel Castro , Stella Maeve , Gwen Stith , Joshua Thompson , Bruce MacVittie , Robert John Burke , Jerry Speziale , Sarah Thompson , Rodney "Bear" Jackson , Cle "Bone" Sloan , Michael Pemberton , Zaire Paige , Gregory Young , Randy Eastman , Thomas Jefferson Byrd , Alain Lautre , Joseph Adams , Alok Tewari , Matlok , Zachary Fuqua , Lela Rochon , Ed Moran , Isiah Whitlock Jr. , Leonid Citer , Nicoye Banks , Tobias Truvillion , Tawny Cypress , Jeanine Ramirez , Rosalyn Coleman , Paul Diomede , Diana Bologna

Training Day director Antoine Fuqua takes viewers on a dark ride through the streets of Brooklyn, following three New York Police officers as they wrestle with temptation, loyalty, and duty while atte... read more read more...mpting to uphold the law and deal with the pressures of the job. Eddie Dugan (Richard Gere) is days away from retirement, but he's been burnt-out for years. Unable to remember why he signed up for the job in the first place, all Eddie can think about is retreating to his fishing cabin in Connecticut, and forgetting the horrors that he's seen during his decades on the job. At the same time, undercover narcotics cop Clarence "Tango" Butler (Don Cheadle) is right in the thick of it. As hard as he tries to quit, however, his superiors always find a way of keeping him on the job. Much like Dugan, he's lost sight of his priorities, and these days Tango's loyalties seem to lie more with notorious inner-city drug dealer Caz (Wesley Snipes) than with the boys in blue. And Tango isn't the only cop who's being drawn to the dark side of the law; narcotics officer Sal Procida's (Ethan Hawke) wife is currently pregnant with twins, and he's barely making enough to keep his family afloat. When Sal learns that his wife is at risk of losing their unborn children, desperation drives him to consider unethical means of ensuring financial stability. In seven days, the lives of all three officers will converge at one crime scene as the NYPD attempts to clean up the BK projects, the epicenter of lawlessness in the highest-crime precinct. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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47% liked it

98,497 ratings

Critics

42% liked it

140 critics

R, 2 hr. 5 min.

Directed by: Antoine Fuqua

Release Date: March 5, 2010

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DVD Release Date: July 6, 2010

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Flixster Reviews (4,743)

  • ironclad1609
    May 2, 2012
    ironclad1609
    This hard and realistic thriller follows the fate of three New York cops: one of them has only one week left until retirement, one has been working undercover for years and the third is trying to make a cut to get his growing family out of a moldy house. Their paths only cross ma... read morerginally, even up until the end, but they all have something in common: they are real human beings with flaws and no shiny heroes. The movie may take the pessimistic look on the job and what it makes out of men a tad too far, but it is still flawlessly acted and gets more exciting by the minute. In the end, only one of them is gonna make the right decision.
  • ythelastman89
    August 10, 2011
    ythelastman89
    I don't know why this was so universally bashed, it's really a great move and in many ways beats out its contemporaries like Crash. The main reason for that is fact that it doesn't have a single overbearing message that it's trying to convey for the entire movie, each character h... read moreas their own message. I think Antoine Fuqua usually has a great style that he brings to his movies and this is a prime example of it. This often times has a visual style that mirrors each central character's tone, which I thought was pretty cool. Also, just from a visual standpoint Brookyln's Finest is extremely impressive. It reminds me a lot of The French Connection in that it has a realistic element that you can't quite put your finger on, but it's undeniably there. The story lines did a perfect job of intersecting; it wasn't obtrusive or cheesy, but gave you a feeling that this was just a massive city. The depiction of the police and criminals was really interesting; I liked that neither side was labeled as outright heroes or villains. (on a side note, I think it's hilarious that Richard Gere is rescuing hookers again). The core stories depend on individual decisions and morals rather that simple foreshadowing or having a plot that needs to go a certain direction. When the final climax finally hits, it's truly beautiful how everything works out. This is also strengthened by its performances; Richard Gere, Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke all turn in extremely good performances. All of their characters are conveyed in a way that makes them feel like real people. The acting isn't overblown or drawn out for oscar season. Chances are, if you're willing to give this a chance, it'll probably be a really nice surprise.
  • imrealgod
    February 16, 2011
    imrealgod
    If this was finest, God forbid me from seeing its worst. Except for a single scene, the complete movie was boring to the core.
  • MovieGeek13
    January 7, 2011
    MovieGeek13
    The cops and criminals genre has been done to death, and Hollywood's offerings as of late suggest that they have completely run out of ideas. With the exception of The Town (itself somewhat of a retread of Michael Mann's Heat), I can't even think of a movie from this genre worth... read more mentioning that's come out in the past five years.
    Brooklyn's Finest is no different. Instead of one cliched narrative, we get three, each connected with the other only through the film's central themes. There's the crooked cop who has had it with the system who he perceives just as corrupt. There's the undercover who's in too deep and it's destroying him mentally. And there's the beat cop who is on the cusp of retiring. He has no intention of making any difference in his profession, and just can't wait until the week is over, but before it is, he may just yet have a chance to do something heroic.
    The plus side to the film features some strong performances by Ethan Hawke, Don Cheadle, and Richard Gere. Hawke is especially good, because he's essentially playing the Denzel Washington character from Training Day, and he pulls it off well. Interesting, since he played the heroic rookie in that film. Director Antoine Fuqua sets a very serious tone, so much so that the third act feels as epic as a Greek tragedy. The film was shot in an actual slum in Brooklyn, and the slang seemed, at least to me, to reflect the lifestyle and forms of speech in this neighbourhood.
    But ultimately, no matter how good the visual flair or acting is, it doesn't save the film from feeling predictable. There is nothing that has been said about life in the ghetto, the corruption in the police force, or the personal toll that the job takes on its officers that hasn't been said before. It's extremely hard to engage in a story when we too easily recognize the character archetypes, and the direction the narrative is going to take.
  • roygutteridge
    December 31, 2010
    roygutteridge
    A well made and acted film but ultimately rather pointless.
  • itsjustme2004
    December 27, 2010
    itsjustme2004
    VERY GOOD movie. Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke and Wesley Snipes give really great performances. I loved the way the movie was able to tell three different stories within the same precinct, then end up having them merge together in the end. This is not just another "cop ... read moremovie". It has a great story, good direction and great acting.
  • LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    December 19, 2010
    LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    "Giuliani ain't clean up the city. Video games and television did. That's what cleaned up the streets. Come on, man, 'cause ya'll remember when everybody was outside. If you was two years old, if you was a hundred and two, you was outside."

    Three unconnected Brooklyn cops... read more wind up at the same deadly location after enduring vastly different career paths.

    REVIEW

    Gritty, profane, and extremely violent thriller centering around three disparate cops: a twenty-year veteran playing out his final days until retirement while struggling to keep his sanity (Gere); an undercover torn between his commitment to the job and his loyalty to the streets (Cheadle); a family man who has his morale put to the test while trying to provide a stable home for his wife and kids (Hawke); Fuqua's attempt at a police morality tale is well-crafted, strongly acted, and sure to grab your attention with intense, in-your-face violent action, but it doesn't offer enough new insight to transcend the familiar, seen-it-all before limitations of this genre. Hawke, re-collaborating with his Training Day director, stands out with an unexpectedly edgy performance. The violence, while expected for a film of this genre, is still tough to stomach at times.
  • Deano78
    November 18, 2010
    Deano78
    A very good cop/crime action thriller film with an impressive cast. The main story follows 3 New York cops and the pressure each one is under working in one of the worst areas of the city. Full of drugs, guns, prostitution and various gangs that are on every corner. If you like s... read moreome of the similar films you should like this. It has plenty of action and a grandstand finish!
  • TheMachinist
    October 24, 2010
    TheMachinist
    "Its a case of righta and wronga."

    Antoine Fuqua hasn't really done anything spectacular since his 2001 'Training Day', which is one of the greatest cop movies ever made. After that his come out with a mediocre 'Tears of the Sun', a decent 'King Arthur' and a terrible 'Shooter'.... read more 'Brooklyn's Finest' should be something he manages best.. a cop movie. But despite the fact that he has a lot of decent actors to his help, can he pull it off again?

    A senior police officer Eddie Dugan (Richard Gere), who is a hardened veteran is only a week from retirement. He fights abuse problems, suicidal thoughts and is in love with a whore. Doesn't seem as a bright future for retirement? Then there's a narcotics officer Sal Procida (Ethan Hawke), whose deeply catholic beliefs has made him head for a big family, living in a moldy house. There's gotta be a way out and maybe some dirty money could be the answer... Don Cheadle plays "Tango", an undercover cop who wants out. The FBI wants Butler aka "Tango" to nail a big time drug dealer Cazin (Wesley Snipes), who he has become good friends with. All these paths lead to a unexpected outcome from where there is no easy way out.

    Even though the film concentrates on these three main performers characters, and they do it decently, there's one actor who steals the entire movie, even though his role is small but important nevertheless. Wesley Snipes doesn't even have to get in to character, he just is cool and has the credibility of a street gang leader. It's impossible to make Hawke be a badass, he proved that already in 'Training Day'. His looks and his essence just doesn't shout out "Look at me, I'm on the verge of becoming a bad cop!". He's just in panic because his character can't wear a condom because of his religious beliefs... But to go back to Snipes, I've waited for this when he comes back to the big screen and gets out of the spiral of straight-to-dvd movies. Let's just hope that he gets his shit together and does what he does best. Is a credible man of the streets.

    The main problem with 'Brooklyn's Finest' is, that the main characters become a bit distant to the audience. The film doesn't concentrate on any of the characters, we just see them do what they do. All of them have interesting backgrounds but in my opinion, this storyline would've worked better in a miniseries for television. I just constantly waited when does the paths between them three meet. The ending seemed a bit rushed and I'm not sure if it's because of the rookie screenwriters script or Fuqua's ambition to top 'Training Day'? There's just not enough depth and emotion in the script.

    'Brooklyn's Finest' is just too hollow in the end. It feels as if the filmmakers wasn't sure of what they wanted to tell the audience. The climax at the end doesn't bring any bigger feelings because I just didn't get bonded with any of the characters. I wanted to know more of 'em but the movie was just rushed. If it would've concentrated on maybe just two characters, Gere's and Cheadle's who were the more interesting ones, this movie would probably worked better. Now it's just a movie that awakens thoughts but all of this is forgotten after the end credits. A decent movie needs more than just a beliavable mood, it needs a good script.
  • fb733768972
    October 9, 2010
    fb733768972
    Brooklyn's Finest is the most underrated film of 2010. There are many over and underrated films every year, but this one takes the win for most underrated. Brooklyn's Finest shows true city cop action and story, and brings so much realism that even the smallest flaw can be forgot... read moreten. Three crooked cops and one retired cop on opposite sides of the force are all after the same case, and finally meet. Yes, the audience knows it's coming, but the end will scare you and will have you questioning! Brooklyn's Finest is far from perfect, but it is one hell of a great ride!

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Critic Reviews

Jonathan F. Richards
April 29, 2010
Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com

Any movie that ends on a freeze frame of Richard Gere walking stoically away from a crime scene teeming with police car lights can't be all good. Full Review

Liam Lacey
March 5, 2010
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

As directed by Antoine Fuqua, the film is well-acted, occasionally hair-raising but ultimately made from stale material. Full Review

Tom Long
March 5, 2010
Tom Long, Detroit News

Tawdry, slick and self-consciously gritty. Full Review

Tom Maurstad
March 5, 2010
Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News

The problem for filmmakers trying to make this kind of movie is that they are now operating in a post-Wire world. Full Review

Peter Rainer
March 5, 2010
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

On second thought, Brooklyn's Finest does indeed provide a new genre twist. This must be the only cop movie ever made where a character is driven off the deep end by mold. Full Review

A.O. Scott
March 5, 2010
A.O. Scott, New York Times

The movie is wounded, but it's also too tough to kill.

Betsy Sharkey
March 5, 2010
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times

An old-style potboiler about desperate cops in dire straits that overcooks both its story and its stars, with Ethan Hawke, Don Cheadle and Richard Gere the main ingredients left stewing. Full Review

Joe Morgenstern
March 5, 2010
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

Whatever one may think of the overall style -- I think it's ludicrous -- Mr. Fuqua clearly wanted his film to be operatic, and so it is, in a tone-deaf way. Full Review

Linda Barnard
March 5, 2010
Linda Barnard, Toronto Star

There's nothing particularly original here in this grime-and-grit saga, but the weak material is elevated by the cast. Full Review

Kyle Smith
March 5, 2010
Kyle Smith, New York Post

Brooklyn's Finest may well have a future on cable as a drinking game. At one sip per cuss word, though, few viewers will still be conscious for the ending... Full Review

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    • Sal Procida: Change that skirt. People are gonna start to think we're Catholic only on Sundays.
    • Det. Patrick Leary: My shorty is black. Don't we go shopping for cocoa butter together?
  • Wesley Snipes' first US theatrical film in over five years since his starring role in Blade: Trinity (2004).
  • This is war. This is Brooklyn.
  • It was the first film to sell at the 2009 Sundance film festival for a sales price of "under 5 million dollars
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  • Wesley Snipes was in the movie 'Brooklyn's Finest' 2009.  Answer »
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