crime film
Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...
directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Michael C. Martin. The film stars
Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere ( ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began appearing in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in ''Looking for Mr. Goodbar (film), Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977) and a starring role in ''Days of Hea ...
,
Don Cheadle
Donald Frank Cheadle Jr. (, ; born November 29, 1964) is an American actor. Known for his roles in film and television, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Don Cheadle, multiple accolades including two Golden Globe Award ...
,
Ethan Hawke
Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor, author, and film director. He made his film debut in ''Explorers (film), Explorers'' (1985), before making a breakthrough performance in ''Dead Poets Society'' (1989). Hawke starr ...
While talking in a car, Detective Sal Procida shoots someone named Carlo Powers, grabs a bag of money and flees. Sal later confesses the murder to a priest, asking for help with his abysmal financial situation: his wife is pregnant with twins, and they live in a house that is too small for their four existing children; it also has
mold
A mold () or mould () is one of the structures that certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal ...
that jeopardizes his family's health.
Desperate to move, Sal arranged to purchase a larger home through a woman who owes him a favor. The down payment is due the following Tuesday, and Sal is still short. Sal, who is a
New York City Police Department
The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...
(NYPD) narcotics detective, has begun to steal drug money from raids.
Officer Edward "Eddie" Dugan is a week from retirement after 22 years of unremarkable service with the NYPD. Despite his impending retirement, Eddie is assigned to oversee a rookie. Eddie is an alcoholic who has suicidal thoughts. The only person he can speak to honestly is Chantel, a sex worker he hires regularly.
Officer Clarence "Tango" Butler is an undercover cop working the drug beat. Tango is tired of the kind of attention attracted by a black man in a black
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...
. Having been promised a promotion including a desk job for years, Butler is finally offered detective first grade if he betrays his close friend Caz Phillips, a known criminal recently released from
federal prison
A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for people who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), people considered dangerous (Brazil), or those sen ...
. Federal Agent Smith instructs Tango to set up the drug deal that will ensure Caz's arrest and return to federal prison.
Eddie's rookie partner has a background with the Marine Corps and becomes disgusted with Eddie's apparent cowardice and cynicism. The rookie asks to be reassigned, but is killed on his next assignment. Eddie's second rookie partner accidentally fires his gun near a teenager's head during a petty theft investigation. The teenager goes deaf, leaving the NYPD facing a public relations nightmare. During the investigation, Eddie is remorseful for what will happen to the rookie, but refuses to twist the truth to portray the teen as a drug dealer despite encouragement by Internal Affairs investigators.
When Tango warns Caz to abort their upcoming drug deal, they are ambushed. Caz is shot under orders from Red, a gangster Tango previously humiliated. After Smith makes a racist remark and refuses to pursue Red, a furious Tango lunges at her but fellow officers restrain him.
Sal's team's latest raid on an apartment is cancelled, but he goes anyway to steal the money for his house. One of his team members, Detective Ronny Rosario, tries but fails to stop Sal from going.
Eddie retires from the NYPD and visits Chantel, who refuses his offer to move to
Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
. While sitting in his car contemplating suicide, Eddie sees a woman who had earlier been reported missing being shoved into a van. Eddie follows the van to the Van Dyke housing projects.
As Sal approaches, Tango enters the building, having come to kill Red. Sal breaks into the apartment and, after killing three drug dealers, discovers their stockpile of cash. While pocketing the money, Sal is shot dead by a young man, who became suspicious after noticing Sal hanging around.
Tango leaves Gutta alive and pursues a wounded Red outside the building to kill him. An arriving Rosario mistakes him for a gangster and shoots him in the back. Only after shooting Tango does Rosario realize he shot another officer. He calls for an ambulance. Rosario leaves a wounded Tango to continue his search for Sal to stop him. Rosario witnesses the young man fleeing from the crime scene and is devastated when he finds Sal's dead body in the apartment.
Meanwhile, Eddie locates a sex slave dungeon in the building's basement. Eddie apprehends one of the men and is confronted by another, "Dragon". When Dragon does not comply with his orders to get on the floor, Eddie shoots him once in the chest, beginning a violent fight that ends with Eddie strangling himwith a zip tie. The emergency response workers take custody of the girls and men while Eddie walks away.
Cast
*
Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere ( ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began appearing in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in ''Looking for Mr. Goodbar (film), Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977) and a starring role in ''Days of Hea ...
as Officer Eddie Dugan
*
Don Cheadle
Donald Frank Cheadle Jr. (, ; born November 29, 1964) is an American actor. Known for his roles in film and television, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Don Cheadle, multiple accolades including two Golden Globe Award ...
as Detective Clarence Butler / Tango
*
Ethan Hawke
Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor, author, and film director. He made his film debut in ''Explorers (film), Explorers'' (1985), before making a breakthrough performance in ''Dead Poets Society'' (1989). Hawke starr ...
as Detective Sal Procida
* Wesley Snipes as Casanova "Caz" Phillips
*
Lela Rochon
Lela Rochon Fuqua (born Lela Rochon Staples; April 17, 1964) is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as Robin Stokes in the 1995 romantic drama film ''Waiting to Exhale''. Rochon also had roles in the films ''Harlem Nights' ...
as Investigator
* Cle Shaheed Sloan as "Dragon"
* Joseph Adams as Doctor Capra
* Zaire Paige as Man Man
Production
Filming
The film was filmed in the three New York City
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
...
s of
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
,
Queens
Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
, and
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
in July 2008. In
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, locations included Brownsville and there, among others, the Van Dyke Houses. In Queens, locations included Rego Park. Michael C. Martin's script originally took place primarily in the Louis H. Pink Houses in East New York, which were near where the writer and a couple of his friends grew up."Q&A with ''Brooklyn's Fines'' screenwriter Michael C. Martin" Interview by Scott Myers, March 5, 2010. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
The total budget for the film was in the $17 million range, and many of the actors took large pay cuts to make the movie. The part of Man Man, Sal's killer, was given to Zaire Paige, a gang member from the neighborhood; three months after filming, he was involved in the October 2008 murder of Lethania Garcia, for which he was sentenced to 107 years to life in prison.
Writing
Michael C. Martin, the writer of the screenplay, went to South Shore High School, where a film appreciation course sparked his interest, and an
anterior cruciate ligament injury
An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during in ...
derailed a possible basketball career. He studied film at
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...
. After having been injured in a car accident in 2005, Martin wrote the ''Finest'' script for a screenwriter's contest. He did not win but his second prize included a subscription to the '' Independent Feature Project'' newsletter. The script also continued to gain attention. Martin found an agent interested in having him write a sequel to the successful film ''
New Jack City
''New Jack City'' is a 1991 American crime action film directed by Mario Van Peebles (in his feature film directorial debut) and written by Thomas Lee Wright and Barry Michael Cooper, based on a story by Wright. The film stars Wesley Snipes, I ...
''. He finally found someone interested in producing his script for ''Finest'', for which he received $200,000.
In an interview at the time of the movie's release, Martin described development of the film:
"Jeanne O’Brien-Ebiri and Mary Viola are responsible for getting this movie made. Jeanne was the first person in the industry to read the script and she was responsible for getting me an agent and the staff job (as a staff writer on the Showtime series ''Sleeper Cell''). And once the script was out there, it came across Mary Viola’s desk at Thunder Road Pictures as a writing sample for ''New Jack City 2''. Mary, a native New Yorker, worked like hell to sell it to the head of Thunder Road, Basil Iwanyk. Basil was an executive on ''
Training Day
''Training Day'' is a 2001 American crime thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by David Ayer. It stars Denzel Washington as Alonzo Harris and Ethan Hawke as Jake Hoyt, two LAPD narcotics officers followed over a 24-hour period ...
'', he had a great relationship with Antoine. And once Antoine attached himself to the script, Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Wesley Snipes, and Ethan Hawke followed. Within weeks, it received a green light."
Vittorio De Sica
Vittorio De Sica ( , ; 7 July 1901 – 13 November 1974) was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement.
Widely considered one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, four of the fil ...
, who directed ''Umberto'' and ''Thief'' among others, and American
Jim Jarmusch
James Robert Jarmusch ( ; born January 22, 1953) is an American film director, screenwriter and musician.
He has been a major proponent of independent film, independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films such as ''Stranger Than Paradise'' ...
.
In the interview, Martin identified his South Shore film teacher as Mr. Braun.
Release
Theatrical
''Brooklyn's Finest'' premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023.
The festival has acted ...
in January 2009, and was picked up by Senator Distribution with a price "in the low seven figures". Due to some financial distress, Senator Distribution was not able to fund its release in 2009. The film was sold again to Overture Films at the 66th
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...
in September, and was released in North America on March 5, 2010.
Home media
''Brooklyn's Finest'' was released on DVD and Blu-ray in July 2010, and topped the United States home video charts for its first week of release ended July 11.
Reception
Box office
In its debut weekend in the United States, ''Brooklyn's Finest'' opened at number two behind ''
Alice in Wonderland
''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...
'' with $13,350,299 in 1,936 theaters, averaging $6,896 per theater. As of September 3, 2010, the film has grossed $27,163,593 in the United States theatrically, a good result for its United States distributor Overture Films, which paid less than $3 million to acquire this film's United States rights.
The film also grossed $36,440,201 in theaters worldwide, and achieved 11th place on
Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon.
History
Brandon Gray ...
's "Dirty Cop" genre ranking, 1973–present.
Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
reported that 44% of 153 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "It's appropriately gritty, and soaked in the kind of palpable tension Antoine Fuqua delivers so well, but ''Brooklyn's Finest'' suffers from the comparisons its cliched script provokes."
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
assigned the film a weighted average score of 43 out of 100 based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data.
Background
Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.
In his review for the ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'',
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
gave the film three stars out of four, concluding, "The film has a basic strength in its performances and craft, but falls short of the high mark Fuqua obviously set for himself." Mick LaSalle of the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...
'' praised the actors for "bringing dimension to these stock characters", but criticized the film for being "a melodrama about three cliches in search of a bloodbath."
A. O. Scott of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' also gave the film a mixed review, stating, "the sheer charismatic force of much of the acting keeps you in the movie", but "Mr. Fuqua and Mr. Martin dig themselves into a pulpy predicament, and then find themselves unable to do anything but shoot their way out." The ''Los Angeles Times'' reviewer commented that "''Brooklyn's Finest'' is an old style potboiler about desperate cops in dire straits that overcooks both its story and its stars."
Accolades
*
BET Awards
The BET Awards are an American award show that was established in 2001 by the BET, Black Entertainment Television network to celebrate Black person, Black entertainers and other minorities in music, film, sports and philanthropy. The awards, which ...
** Nominee, Don Cheadle - Best Actor
* Black Reel Awards
** Nominee, Best Picture
** Nominee, Best Ensemble
** Nominee, Antoine Fuqua - Best Director
** Nominee, Michael C. Martin - Best Screenplay: Original or Adapted
** Nominee, Don Cheadle - Best Actor
** Winner, Wesley Snipes - Best Supporting Actor
Bollywood remake
In May 2013, Original Entertainment confirmed to have sealed a five-picture deal with Millennium Films to produce
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...
remakes of '' Rambo'', '' The Expendables'', '' 16 Blocks'', '' 88 Minutes'', and ''Brooklyn's Finest'', with the productions for ''Rambo'' and ''The Expendables'' expected to start at the end of that year.