Burned-out police veteran Eddie Dugan is just one week away from his pension and a fishing cabin in Connecticut. Narcotics officer Sal Procida has discovered there's no line he won't cross to provide a better life for his long-suffering wife and seven children. And Clarence "Tango" Butler has been undercover so long, his loyalties have started to shift from his fellow police officers to his prison buddy, Caz, one of Brooklyn's most infamous drug dealers.
With personal and work pressures bearing down on them, each man faces daily tests of judgment and honor in one of the world's most difficult jobs. When NYPD's Operation Clean Up targets the notoriously drug-ridden BK housing project, all three officers find themselves swept away by the violence and corruption of Brooklyn's gritty 65th Precinct and its most treacherous criminals.
During seven fateful days, Eddie, Sal and Tango find themselves hurtling inextricably toward the same fatal crime scene and a shattering collision with destiny.
The stories take place in and are filmed in some of the
roughest sections of East Brooklyn. As the film shows, the neighborhood
experiences daily shootings; sometimes by cops, sometimes involving completely
innocent people, sometimes during drug raids. The line between the bad and good
guys is fuzzy in every instance.
Eddie (Richard Gere) has seven days left on the job. Yes, the film dares to pull
out that old chestnut, which means he has to get through with liquor and visits
to his favorite prostitute (Shannon Kane). The film implies he hasn't really
worked in years.
Tango (Don Cheadle) wants out from his three-year-plus undercover assignment
because his wife has left him. It's not easily done.
Finally, his superior (Will Patton) and a laughably-tough
federal agent (Ellen Barkin) propose that he set up his best friend, drug dealer
Caz (Wesley Snipes), to win a desk job.
Sal (Ethan Hawke), who works narcotics, has five kids and a wife (Lili Taylor)
pregnant with twins. Desperate to move his family from a crowded rental infected
with wood mold, he steals drug money with abandon. At every drug bust, he scoops
up bills, and, as the movie shows, he is not above assassinating a poor drug
currier to steal his loot.
How did any of these doomed characters become cops, you might wonder. More to
the point, would any police force turn such a blind an eye to such clearly
unhinged cops? Their corruption and failures are all too obvious. They even talk
to their fellow police officers about their cynicism and crimes.
The movie ends with all three stories at one huge crime scene reminiscent of
"Crash," but not as fulfilling. The film is well-produced, as all the background
details of the dead end environment, community outrage over police misbehavior
and hostility raging at all social levels feel real. It's what happens in the
foreground that rings false.
2.5 Buckets
