Brooklyn's Finest (2009)

Three New York City police officers seek relief from the numbing grit and violence found in bringing peace to Brooklyn. Sal (Ethan Hawke) has twins on the way and needs to get a new home for his asthmatic wife and his other children but lacks the dough to do so. Eddie (Richard Gere) is days away from retirement yet he drinks booze when he wakes and his girlfriend? is paid money for pleasure. Tango (Don Cheadle) is under cover but his closest friend is a drug dealer that his superiors want to set up using Tango's help. From the opening scene we witness gratuitous violence which typically the movies want to make kewl yet here it is overdone. Yes this world is evil but a family man who defends the law could not be the animal we see on the screen. The moviegoer is pleased to see the main characters reaching their goal but here the 3 officers sometimes stop themselves from attaining it and here is how BROOKLYN'S FINEST wins a home in my heart. I found Sal hold back from taking drug money when he could easily have snatched it up, Eddie is at bottom yet finds the will to assist a woman he believes is listed as missing, and Tango holds off on betraying his friend when it would land him the office desk he so desperately craves. These are the contradictions of life. We are asked to accept them and to suspend the satisfaction that they have an easy answer. The climax is good moviemaking where we can celebrate the community of law enforcement and remain conscious of the ordeals our world creates for them. [4.2 stars]