Blu-ray Review: BROOKLYN'S FINEST (2010) Starring Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke and Don Cheadle

My latest rental arrived from LOVEFiLM in the shape of Brooklyn's Finest, a movie which I had promised myself a long time ago but just never got round to. I suppose eventually I would have caught it on TV but that just wouldn't have been as much fun would it?

Starring: Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke and Wesley Snipes

The Plot

The story of three cops, Tango (Cheadle) working deep undercover, so much in fact that he no longer knows where his morals lie, Sal (Hawke) a corrupt cop who steals money from drug dealers in order to provide his family a better life and finally, Eddie the precincts oldest cop due to retire at the end of the week. The stories all roll individually before they all meet up (sort of) for one final encounter.

The Verdict

If you love cop drama's like Training Day and Rampart then Brooklyn's Finest is definitely your type of movie, was it for me? Not really, It's one of those where noting really happens, the story is very similar to Training Day only this time Ethan Hawke is openly corrupt, at least in Training Day he resisted a little. It's a good story and you do feel very invested in the characters, maybe not so much their immediate face value choices but more the situation they find themselves in whilst seemingly being abandoned by the NYPD. 

I think Brooklyn's Finest owes it's character investment to the actors, lets face it none of the guys mentioned above are armatures, even Wesley Snipes as resident top dog gangster puts in an impressive turn. If your not the biggest fan of some of these guys you do have to admit that they put in good performances. Had it been lesser actors involved Brooklyn's Finest may not have turned out so well.

I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy the movie, I get the story and the emotion that it's trying to put across but it's just not my thing, or at least I feel it's nothing different from what I have already seen in this genre. It's one of those movies where I enjoyed watching the extras more and getting some screen time from the guy who wrote the script, you can check out what I thought of that a little further down.

Brooklyn's Finest is very dark and gritty, pretty much what you would expect from this genre telling a tale of corrupt cops caught up in various situations with drug dealers in New York.

Blu-ray Special Features

CONFLICT & CHAOS - The Life of a New York City Cop - A look behind the movie and how the inspiration came about for the story, what compelled the actors to take part and how they prepared for their roles. Some real truth's are spoken from Director Antoine Fuqua in relation to real police officers.

From The MTA to the WGA - At only five minutes long this is one of the best Special Features I have seen. It looks at Brooklyn's Finest screen play writer Michael Martin, a guy who was working for the MTA (Metropoltian Transport Authority), he was broke and needed a new car so he looked online and found a screen writing competition with a first prize of $10k he wrote Brooklyn's Finest and came second before he knew it Hollywood was on the phone and Antoine Fuqua wanted to make his movie - A true rags to riches story.

Boyz N The Real Hood - Another really good extra showing where Brooklyn's Finest was shot, in the real housing projects of New York. Director Antoine Fuqua gave a lot back to the community which is still seeing the benefits to this day.

Deleted Scenes -  I didn't watch them all, the way I see it they are deleted for a reason.

Trailer - Speaks for itself really, the theatrical trailer for Brooklyn's Finest.

On the main Blu-ray menu there is a "Set Up" option, this allows you to choose which version of the movie you watch, have the subtitles on or off and also the opportunity to have commentary from Director Antoine Fuqua. I didn't bother with any of that, the movie is over two hours long to start with.

Would I watch it again?

No I don't think I would

Rating: MM