Rated: R

Release Date: 03/05/2010

Production Company: Overture Films

Don Cheadle, Wesley Snipes, Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Will Patton, Michael K. Williams, Shannon Kane, Ellen Barkin and Brian F. O'Byrne.

Director: Antoine Fuqua. Producers: Elie Cohn, Basil Iwanyk, John Langley, Avi Lerner, Joe Napolitano, Jeanne O'Brien-Ebiri, Kat Samick and John Thompson. Executive Producers: Antoine Fuqua, Boaz Davidson, Robert Greenhut, Jesse Kennedy and Mary Viola. Screenwriters" Michael C. Martin. Cinematograher: Patrick Murguia.

By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs

Is every cop in New York on the take? You might really be convinced of it after seeing director Antoine Fuqua's dark and gritty police drama, "Brooklyn's Finest."

Fuqua knows how to weave a story about police corruption and the seedier side of life, having done such an excellent job with Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke in the movie, "Training Day." Washington won an Oscar Award for his role in the film.

In "Brooklyn's Finest," Fuqua reunites with Hawke once again. But Hawke is just one of many star players that makes this compelling, yet all too familiar police tale work. The others include Don Cheadle and Richard Gere. Cheadle plays undercover detective Tango. His lengthy assignment --and his ex-wife--have done a number on him physically and mentally. Tango wants to get away from the grind of the streets and land a cushy desk job. It's going to cost him though. His boss (Will Patton) and a federal agent (Ellen Barkin) needs a favor first. They want Tango to set up his drug-dealing friend Cas (an excellent Wesley Snipes). What a predicament.

Sal ( Hawke) is quite a character. He's a narcotics cop with five kids. His wife Angela (Lili Taylor)--is pregnant again with twins. She's also getting sicker by the day from the mold growing in their old rundown house. Sal desperately needs money to buy another home and support his growing family. The guy also has no shame in snagging a few stashes of money during drug busts, or beating the living daylights out of dealers in the process to get it.

Then there's Eddie (Richard Gere). He has seven days left on the job and doesn't care about much else around him other than maybe getting serviced by Chantel his favorite hooker (Shannon Kane).

All of these guys have been worked over in some way by the system and yet their worlds become intertwined in the worst possible ways.

"Brooklyn's Finest" takes a few pages from several films ranging from "New Jack City," "Serpico," "American Gangster," and of course "Training Day." Even so, Fuqua and screenwriters Michael C. Martin and Brad Caleb Kane deliver a big, vibrant, violent story that envelopes you from start to finish.

"Brooklyn's Finest" marks a comeback for Snipes who hasn't been on the big screen in six years, since his movie "Blade: Trinity."

Teaming Snipes with Cheadle was simply brilliant. The veteran actors own the screen whenever they're on it. Hopefully their excellent work here will translate into us seeing more of these fine actors together again, real soon.