Do you remember when every action movie in Hollywood starred Wesley Snipes? I do. When I look back on his career, I have to admit that some of the most action-packed movie-going moments of my young life were thanks to Wesley. Passenger 57, Demolition Man, Money Train, Blade…the list goes on. And you can’t mention Snipes without paying homage to New Jack City. And then, he fell into the “I used to be a big Hollywood movie star…really, I did!” abyss. Well, if you’ve been wondering when Wesley would get his second chance a la John Travolta Pulp Fiction-style, the wait is over and Brooklyn’s Finest may be it. The film features an A-list cast and one of the hottest directors in the biz, Mr. Antoine Fuqua, who directed Training Day which netted Denzel Washington the coveted Best Actor Oscar award. I had the chance to sit down with Snipes to talk about Brooklyn’s Finest, where he plays a drug lord named Casanova, who winds up at a crossroad between three NYPD cops.

Tell me about the movie.
The story is a real life drama about the lives of police officers and the lives of young men who are on the other side of the law. [It is about] the struggle of living in an environment where there are a lot of circumstances that put pressures on you that make you do things you wouldn’t normally do or test your morality and your humanity as well.

How did you get involved in the film?
Antoine Fuqua called me up and told me he had a role for me. We actually had talked about doing something maybe a year or two prior to this project coming along, and it just so happened I had a window of opportunity when he called me up and asked if I wanted to work with Don Cheadle and Richard Gere and Ethan Hawk. I was like, okay.

Now you play Casanova, who is a drug dealer, and Don Cheadle plays Tango, who is a cop. The two met when Cheadle’s character was working undercover on assignment. This relationship is actually one of the most interesting in the movie. Tell me a little about that whole dynamic.
I would describe their relationship as brotherly, but, you know, there’s always that little tension because in the world of hustlers and drugs and crimes, you never know exactly who to trust. When they were in prison my character actually helped save his character’s life and Tango feels like he owes a debt to Caz.

There are a lot of young guys in this movie that really are a part of that Brooklyn street life depicted in this movie. What is it like working with them as opposed to actors pretending to be gangsters?
It kept me highly motivated. I definitely had to be up on my game. It’s nice to work with that energy. It was exciting. I never was a street hustler, but I can get the vibe of it and they bring that realism to it. I enjoyed it. So, I can vicariously live out my life of being a street gangster.

Brooklyn’s Finest is open in theatres nationwide. The film is rated R for bloody violence throughout, strong sexuality, nudity, drug content and pervasive language. Email me the name of your favorite Wesley Snipes movie for the chance to win a pair of tickets to the Studio Movie Grill. For all of this week’s new releases and more of your favorite celebs, watch my show Reel Critics on Time Warner Cable Video on Demand under the North Texas programming tab!