Brooklyn's Finest
Directed by Anotoine Fuqua ("Training Day") and starring Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Richard Gere, Will Patton, Ellen Barkin, Wesley Snipes, Vincent D'onofrio, Bryan O'Byrne and "The Wire" veterans Hassan Johnson , Isiah Whitlock, and Michael K. Williams, this movie was ok. Not special. It didn't go over any new ground. It was shot almost entirely in and around a Brownsville Brooklyn Housing project which was evidently quite dangerous.

It tells the interlinked stories of three Brooklyn cops-Hawke, Gere and Cheadle. Hawke is a desperado who is tired of his low pay and living in a mold infested house which is killing his wife and kids. Since he works in narcotics he has an opportunity to do something about it.

Cheadle is an undercover narcotics cop who is fed up with the racism and nepotism within the department but who needs to make a bust of recently released dealer Casanova (Snipes) in order to get his long overdue promotion. Problem is he's finding that Snipes' character is in many ways more honorable than Cheadle's supervisors.

And Gere is a cynical cop who's long stopped caring about anything or anyone. He's only seven days away from retirement. He's obviously low ambition or has the ability to p*** people off since he's still walking a beat at his age. Intermittently suicidal, Gere's only solace is the stereotypical hooker with the heart of gold.

You can pretty much tell each character's fate from the description above. There weren't a lot of surprises here. Hawke does frustration and irritation just as well as Cheadle does sarcasm and intensity. The film was well shot, well directed and looks good but the story is just so-so.