It’s been eight long years since Wesley Snipes has been in anything resembling a box-office hit. Since then, the action-movie mainstay has stumbled into one career manhole after another. As we reported in a profile of the troubled actor in 2007, Snipes has been a magnet for chaos off-screen (a long and costly series of court battles with the IRS over his alleged refusal to pay taxes) and a shadow of his former self on-screen. In fact, six of his last seven movies, featuring C-list costars and interchangeable titles like The Contractor and The Detonator, have gone straight-to-DVD.
Before all of this, as you’ll recall, Snipes was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. In the ’90s, he seemed to hopscotch from one hit film to the next: Jungle Fever, White Men Can’t Jump, Rising Sun, To Wong Foo, Waiting to Exhale, and, of course, 1998′s Blade. Looking back at that heyday now, it’s hard to believe that one man could fall so far so fast. And since then, one question has remained unanswered like a stubborn riddle: does the man have a comeback left in him?
It looks like we’re finally about to get our answer. On Friday, Snipes will finally share the screen again with actors you’ve heard of (Ethan Hawke, Richard Gere, Don Cheadle) in Antoine Fuqua’s gritty crime flick, Brooklyn’s Finest. And judging from the trailer, it looks like he might have landed right back in that New Jack City sweet spot.
Sure, the whole thing may look a tad familiar to anyone who sat through 2001′s Training Day (also directed by Fuqua and starring Hawke). But this time around, there’s the added drama we’ll all be bringing to the multiplex with our ten bucks: will Wesley Snipes finally find his way back to the A-list? If you’re inclined to say “I don’t think so,” not so fast. As one actor we used to cheer for once said: “Always bet on black!”
What do you think: Are you going to see Brooklyn’s Finest? Are you rooting for a Snipes comeback?
LOOKS INTERESTING CHRIS.. GOOD CALL ON THE NEW JACK CITY REFERENCE, SNIPES WAS AWESOME AS NINO BROWN.
I am hoping for my boys Wesley and Ethan to shine!
I don’t know about the A-list, but I’m definitely interested in seeing a Wesley Snipes comeback that leads to him doing some interesting character work because he does have some talent and an undeniable screen presence.
The problem (other than the tax thing, of course) was that, after Blade, he seemed to get it in his head that all he should be doing was action movies. If he mixes things up and keeps things interesting (like he did in the 90′s), I think he’d be a welcome sight back on the big screen.
“Can Wesley Snipes make a comeback in ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’?” No.
I went to the NYC premiere last night and I have to say Wesley Snipes was awesome in the movie as were all of the actors/actresses. It is a gritty movie with lots of action and realism. A definite must see!
i have seen this movie and wesley snipes is absolutely fantastic. In fact, the entire cast is incredible. This is definitely a vehicle that can re-launch his career. Go see this movie. Also, as much as I am not a fan of Richard Gere, his performance is incredible as well. I think his career will get pick up too. Kudos to Antoine Fuqua for getting great performances from this group of actors!
Snipes is a notorious narcissist and people can’t stand working with him due to his diva behavior (just read about his behavior on the Blade 3 set). It is unlikely that this small film will have any impact on his overall desirability as an actor.
Or you could say that he wass not impressed that a character he put a lot of work into and made very popular was being used to launch a film for Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel and NOT to improve on the title character. Given the fact that people dislike Blade 3 (which was SIX years ago and a hit on the same scale as Blade, worldwide) and had every right to be upset. he film, as written,in other words not written as a Blade film has stalled the series, probably forever, when it had the chance to take a popular character into the mainstream. They used Wolverine to launch Deadpool and Gambit movies but they didn’t cut half of Wolverine’s presence out of the movie to do it. (POf course that film had other issues). I’m not sure Anyone would be too happy to see his work dismissed so casually to make way for others. Especially as his film is credited with restarting the comic book movie biz AND was one of a tiny number of black super heroes to succeed on the big screen, in their own right,
I just hope this leads to a quality rebirth for Blade.
Oh and his % of action movies in the 6 movies prior to Blade and the 6 after is pretty much the same.
actually, snipes is absolutely a delight to work with and not at all difficult. success and celebrity many times lead to undeserved reputations. unfortunately people don’t want to read about someone’s good qualities but are more interested in the deliberate and created drama. this movie is fantastic, snipes is fantastic in it (as is the entire cast), and i hope that it gets the support it deserves.
I saw Brooklyn’s Finest at Sundance last year. It is only OK. The ending especially is unearned and it seems like it is trying to be authentic instead of organically being authentic like The Wire. Though, Snipes is probably the best part in the movie.
the ending has been changed since sundance and it is much better
I am definetly looking forward to seeing this movie and hoping it will relaunch Wesly career. Maybe its just me but I would LOVE to see another Blade movie. “Go SNIPES”
Get a nice strong story arc going, as with 1 & 2, and film a trilogy. There’s room to make a really good, relevent and exciting set of intelligent action movies there. Snioes is a rare mix of very good acting and action talent. Be good to see both used at the same time.
I screened Brooklyn’s Finest Monday night hoping that this would indeed be Snipe’s comeback. Unfortunately, his screen time is very limited and his dialogue is very similar to New Jack City’s Nino. I hope that he does get a chance to shine bright again…soon!
I haven’t seen the movie yet but I heard it was real good. I look forward to seeing it