Competing loyalties

Violent police drama sets cops against each other, themselves | Rebecca Cusey

Philip V. Caruso/Brooklyn’s Finest Productions, Inc.

It's easy to tell right from wrong from the cushions of an easy chair. Out on the front lines of the war between criminals and police, the lines get muddled. At least, that's the premise of the brutal and sexually explicit police drama Brooklyn's Finest. The film starts with a monologue about right and wrong from a drug dealer and ends with three police officers forced to choose between competing loyalties.

Sal (Ethan Hawke) is a blue-collar Roman Catholic. Although he puts his life on the line in the SWAT team every day, he can't afford a proper home for his ever-growing family. He eyes the mounds of drug-lord cash his team confiscates on every raid. Tango (Don Cheadle) has been working undercover for years, infiltrating a crime ring, even spending time in prison. As his "real" life crumbles, he finds himself identifying with and caring about his mark, crime boss Caz (Wesley Snipes), more than his police brethren.