A very well thought out, character driven, cop thriller. with standout performances by Ethan Hawke and Richard Gere, a good comeback turn by Wesley Snipers, who i would've like to have seen more of, but left you wanting more(in a good way), Don Cheadle was good as well, but i felt that his performance was a bit underplayed through out, if another actor had played the role they would've brought out more flair (possibly Terrence Howard).
Richard Gere as the world weary cop who's going to retire by the end of the week has been done thousands of time before but the twist with his character he is that he just wants to make it to retirement. he does't want to be a mentor to the young guys, he doesn't want to get involved with nothing, he's looking for a way out of his life( in one scene he really tries to get out by any means) is the one character that you probably feel the most for.
Ethan Hawke as the cop who you want to hate from the beginning but understand the method to his madness, which Hawke shows with great range from trying to be the loving family man who wants to take care of his family to out of control money hungry cop that will do anything and i do mean ANYTHING to get that money is almost Gary Oldman esque here(One of, if not Hawke's best performance) steals every scene that he's in.
Don Cheadle like i said at the beginning is good and i have seen him play great characters but i don't know what it was with him in this movie he was too low key and had cop written all over his face with how he acted when he was with Wesley Snipes and Crew of tough guys(The Wire's Michael K. Williams, Hassan Johnson) I believe a Terrence Howard or even Idris Elba would've gave his character a little more depth and sympathy which we the viewer would've need to see if were to feel sorry for him by time the ending comes around.
Wesley Snipes here is nothing like his Nino Brown character from New Jack City, so anybody who wanted to see that will be disappointed, but what Snipes does here in his somewhat minor role is still pretty good as the reformed gangster who does what to change but starts to fall back to his old ways, but he isn't the villian of this movie which some might have thought, yes he is the target of the police but we find out why which makes you leave scratching your head(Really!) it was good seeing Snipes back in a big movie/big screen (Last appearing on screen in Blade 3) even though for a few years he went the same route as action stars before him(JCVD,Steven Segal) direct to video releases
Director Antoine Fuqoa does an amazing job by weaving in and out of the three stories involving (Gere,Hawke,Cheadle) and showing Hollywood that he is one of the top Directors out today if he haven't already proved himself with (Training Day) already.
In some ways it reminds me of L.A.Confidental, but where this differs from that movie is that the three main leads here have little to no scenes with each other. which doesn't hurt the movie, but doesn't help it either.
The final act of the movie is where all three stories somewhat come together one way or another and is played out strongly. where our three main leads converge on a apartment complex for various reasons(Money, Revenge, Rescue) even though all three men go in one way, none leave the way they probably thought they would and after watching this movie i don't think you will either.
The movie is gritty, violent, and very truthful with what not only with what goes on out on the streets(gangs,drugs,hookers, but also with how police officers deal with day to day living as a cop(undercover ,underpaid, rookie life, retirement,family, everything in between.
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