The first story is about Sal (Ethan Hawke) who is a generally good guy with a loving wife and a bunch of kids. He is way underwater financially and lives in a house that has mold that is killing his wife (as she's pregnant with two more kids). He decides that his only way out is to steal drug money that he would otherwise report when he and his team go into a drug den. For him it's a very moral thing - he's using the money to get a new, clean house, and if he didn't, the money would go into the system and be lost. At some point he raids houses and "loses" runners just to steal a few more bucks.
The second story is about Eddie (Richard Gere) a 22-year veteran cop who is about to retire. He has never done anything particularly good nor anything particularly bad. He's been only a decent cop and the experience has lowered his opinion of humanity. He has to train a bunch of rookies about what he has learned, but he hates their young passion for justice. He's in the process of divorcing his wife, he's in a somewhat domestic relationship with a whore and considers shooting himself in the head about once a day.
The third story is about Tango (Don Cheadle) an undercover cop working in a bad housing project under the drug lord there, Caz (Wesley Snipes). Tango tells his police contacts that he's getting too deep into the organization and that he's having doubts about nailing Caz, who is a long-time friend of his. He says he wants out, but the cops running the show on the outside (and the DOJ) have other ideas for him.
None of these stories are particularly interesting and most fall back on very trite material - some of it directly taken from other movies. Eddie's story is basically Fuqua's Training Day, where and old cop teaches a young cop how things work. Tango's story is basically a bad Donnie Brasco story - or Donnie Brasco meets the first season of The Wire (Michael K Williams, Omar, is even in this part).
I guess the story Fuqua is telling is that all cops have their sins and the police department is messed up because of this. It's not particularly hopeful, nor very original, really. "So what?", is my question. Why do I care that a bunch of cops in Brooklyn are bad guys (or good guys). The film ends so elliptically that it's not really clear what Fuqua is getting at.
Are we supposed to feel bad for Sal because he takes matters in his own hands? Are we supposed to feel bad for Eddie because he's reached the end of his rope? Are we supposed to feel bad for Tango because nobody will listen to him and he's stuck in a no-win situation? I don't really care about any of these things. They all fall particularly flat and don't really do much of anything interesting.
Stars: 1 of 4
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