Not Hollywood's Finest By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time," "Cinema Classics," and "On the Marquee"
Brooklyn's Finest is not Hollywood's; it is a bloody cop drama that imitates in the broadest way the fragmented stories of Crash with less coherence, less social value, and less literary merit. Finest is the real crash.
Three cops have three very different lives that intersect in the bloodbath so common in the denouement of thriller police stories. Eddie (Richard Gere) is one week from retirement (big cop clich?) with lonely longing for his absent wife and affection for a prostitute. (The cliched ending to this segment is hard to believe). Tango (Don Cheadle) is undercover but forced to decide to advance corruption or be loyal to the hoods he has infiltrated. Sal (Ethan Hawke) needs a new home for his burgeoning family.
As these troubled officers move through their violent world, they mostly beat up people, steal their money, dirty or not, and murder others. No more, no less.
I'm going to rest now in the hope that when I return to the keyboard, I have been inspired by some dream muse to find art in this seemingly idiotic story.
I'm back, and I see the review is nicer than it should be. I'll not change it in the hope that you'll see it and point out the charms of Brooklyn's Finest that eluded me.
John DeSando teaches film at Franklin University and co-hosts WCBE 90.5's It's Movie Time, Cinema Classics, and On the Marquee, which can be heard streaming at http://publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/ppr/index.shtml and on demand at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/arts.artsmain Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.RR.com