Richard Gere (left) and Ethan Hawke are among the stars of “Brooklyn's Finest.” Photo courtesy of Overture Films.

BROOKLYN’S FINEST (Rated R)

The dark side of police work is on full display once again in director Antoine Fuqua’s potboiler “Brooklyn’s Finest.” He favors the gritty, slimy aspects of the genre, which was evident in the explosive “Training Day,” where all the players appeared to be unsavory on the battleground of the mean streets of Los Angeles.

Fuqua demonstrates that things are no better on the other side of the country on the equally cruel streets of Brooklyn. Life is so bleak in this New York borough that it feels more like the 1970s, prior to urban renewal and the attendant gentrification of crumbling neighborhoods.

What’s crumbling in Brooklyn is the fortune of three Brooklyn cops, each one unaware of the other even though they work out of the same precinct. Their turf is one of the most dangerous neighborhoods, a situation amplified early on by an officer shooting of a black youth and the simmering anger and hostility of local residents.

Eddie (Richard Gere), a veteran cop about a week away from retirement, wakes up to a morning ritual of a few shots of whiskey and putting a gun in his mouth as practice for suicide. This sad sack lives alone in a shabby apartment and just wants to make it through the day so he can spend some time under the covers with his prostitute girlfriend (Shannon Kane).

It seems like a stretch to turn Richard Gere into a broken man, but he does his best to bring gloom to the lives of rookies assigned to his patrol car.

When we first see Sal (Ethan Hawke), it is not clear which side of the law he is on. But it doesn’t take long to find out that Sal lives in a state of perpetual crisis. A devout Catholic operating on a twisted set of moral principles, Sal nevertheless cares deeply for his pregnant wife (Lili Taylor) and their many kids.

Sal is anxious to move out of his house to a better place, primarily because the wood mold is making his asthmatic spouse ill. With a big family and trying to make it on a cop’s salary, Sal finds it necessary to cut a lot of corners, mainly by skimming a share of the cash retrieved in drug busts. As he struggles to put money together for the down payment on a new home, Sal is driven to take more chances. That Sal puts himself into greater danger probably comes as no surprise to anyone.

The most mysterious of the cop trio is Tango (Don Cheadle), a guy so deep undercover that his identity is known only to some top brass. In fact, Tango has operated on the wrong side of the law for so long that it seems his loyalties are in serious question.

His current assignment is to take down the drug empire run by charismatic Caz (Wesley Snipes). Owing his life to Caz from an unspoken event in the past, Tango is terribly conflicted and wants to see no harm come to his target. Bucking for the promotion that is well-deserved, Tango ends up tangling with his superiors.

His real nemesis is a hard-nosed FBI agent (Ellen Barkin) who’s orchestrating the sting operation and would gladly toss Tango under the bus just to get what she wants.

As crisis situations simmer and boil, “Brooklyn’s Finest” careens through its plot threads like a junkie on a bad acid trip. Sal grows more desperate and alienates his friends on the force, both after hours and while on the job. Nothing good will come from his increasingly reckless behavior. Meanwhile, Tango is caught up in a web of deception where his divided loyalties are cause for alarm. Though slipping away into irrelevance and oblivion, Eddie just may have one last spark of a chance for redemption.

Atmosphere is very much an important part of Antoine Fuqua’s vision. The world of “Brooklyn’s Finest” is a bleak, grim one, where the line between good and evil is nearly impossible to distinguish. None of the main characters is necessarily sympathetic. Finding a rooting interest for anyone’s well-being is elusive.

Nevertheless, the actors are certainly credible in their performances, with Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke delivering the best, likely due to the fact that their characters are the most on edge.

“Brooklyn’s Finest,” though it revisits old ground seen in other police movies, is an entertaining potboiler with sufficient action and suspense.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

I used to think of Lee Horsley as the lost brother of Tom Selleck. Maybe it was because he was tall, charismatic and had a mustache.

Well, at least that’s what he looked like in the TV series “Matt Houston,” in the role of wealthy Texan who relocated to Los Angeles oversee his family’s oil business. However, Houston had abundant free time to pursue his passion of detective work.

Produced by television legend Aaron Spelling, “Matt Houston” also starred the beautiful Pamela Hensley.

Now for the first time, all 23 free-wheeling episodes from the premiere season are available in the DVD release of “Matt Houston: The First Season.”

Many celebrity guests highlighted the inaugural season, with appearances by Janet Leigh, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Sonny Bono, George Takei, Jill St. John and Heather Locklear.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

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