"BROOKLYN'S FINEST"TV has nearly killed the gritty joy of cop stories and it sucks. Seriously almost every channel this season has got at least three cop or cop-like shows starting up. Shockingly enough some will succeed even given the high market flooding of the genre. Interestingly enough though is that film wise it's all kind of slowed down. It almost seems like the people still making the occasional cop picture are the ones that have made a name for themselves for doing so. One such person is director Antonie Fuqua of 'Training Day' and 'Shooter' fame. His newest crime opus "Brooklyn's Finest" isn't as strong, but it is an engrossing and entertaining crime yarn all the same.
The film follows three cops, all different very people and working completely unrelated cases. There's Don Cheadle, a cop who's been undercover for what seems to be a year plus with rough gangsters and is tired of it. He wants out and he wants the promotion and desk job he was promised. The wish might be granted, but first he must sell out Casanova; an old friend played by Wesley Snipes. This might be easy, but the two have a history and Casanova saved his life once so there's all those... emotions. Then there's Ethan Hawke who works vice squad doing drug busts. His house is infested with dangerous mold that's slowly effecting his pregnant wife. Furthermore said house is tiny and with two more kids on the way plus the four others... well you can figure that out. So he hatching a plan to take drug money and buy a new house. Lastly there is Richard Gere who is retiring. He's a burn out and alcoholic with no impressive police history, but has done nothing wrong. However slowly he begins to see what he could do to redeem himself in a certain light.
All these actors perform magnificently and Fuqua directs with a much quieter and steadier eye than in many of his past works. The film is as gritty as his others, but is less about crime and all that and more about these people and their lives. Hawke delivers another hot blooded performance that's believable and convincing to his argument as to why he SHOULD take the drug money. His performance sticks out the most, but Cheadle and Gere's also work on a more subtle level. All these character could warrant their own solo pictures and perhaps someone should write a crime film that dwells more how cops view the upside down nature of the law, but together in one film it works too.
"THE WOLFMAN"
I missed Universal's big remake of their monster classic that came out in February and I kind of still wish I had left it missed. Directed by Joe Johnston ('Jumanji' and 'Jurassic Park III'), 'The Wolfman' is hands down one of the worst films of the year and a piss poor attempt at reviving the great genre of gothic horror. First off Benicio Del Toro shouldn't have played the lead Lawrence. Del Toro is a terrific actor, but this is his worst performance that ranges from being boring to being just plain ridiculous. Then we have Anthony Hopkins as his rather insane father who works hard to chew up the scenery like a lion. In fact the only cast members that did work for the film were Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving, but it feels like they end up having little to nothing to really do in the film.
It's even more disappointing when Lawrence turns into the wolfman and we're treated to some ok-ish CGI transformations, some cheap looking kills and then a horrible looking wolfman suit that's either lit wrong or was just made poorly. I find both odd considering this was done by legendary makeup artist Rick Baker. I won't even go into the big finale of the movie which seems like something out of a Stephen Sommers film, but shot with less flair.
Johnston has also been like a pick me up director with little style. He can do things well enough and sometimes above average (like 'October Sky'), but then there's stuff like this and it makes you wonder how he gets work. I think here he was aiming for Sam Raimi style oddly enough, but lacks the creativity, humor and madness that Raimi has to pull it off.
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