Three boys from the hood were taken out of jail and enrolled in the police academy by a cougar named Lydia (Desperate Housewife Dana Delany). Malo's (50 Cents) father was once in the police force. The three graduates are assigned to crooked cop Joseph Sarcone (Robert De Niro) who deals drugs and skims on the takes. They become part of the bad cop crime scene.

The plot develops as we discover both Lydia's husband and Malo's father were murdered. Malo has two love interests in this film, neither of which was acting. Anabelle Acosta plays his childhood sweetheart...when he was a thug and Beau Garrett is a bar tender at a special bad boy cop bar who like Malo likes peanut butter.

For those who like crooked cop dramas, this one pasts the smell test, largely due to the strength of the supporting cast. 50 Cents' performance was far from credible and weighed down the film. He needs to learn his productions would do better if he wasn't in them.

PARENTAL GUIDE: F-bomb, sex, party girls nudity, n-word.

How good should this film have been(?) Starring Robert De Niro and Forest Whitaker, two great American actors, and 50'Cent Curtis Jackson who I've noticed acting well in other films, this should have been, at the least, a satisfyingly good film. So when I saw The Sony Movie Channel was airing it I thought I'd give it a view.

DAMN! This was bad! If I were any of the actors I wouldn't even consider putting this on my resume. Robert De Niro played the leader of a group of bad cops, Joe Sarcone, who recruits Malo, Curtis Jackson, and his friends. These had previously been thugs who had supposedly seen the light but were very quick to jump on board Sarcone's ship (so much for the good guys) Milo is paired with LaRue, Forest Whitaker, who is a drug addict and will let anybody off if he can score from them. Even though he's not openly racist he does have a hatred for whites. This is balanced off by a minor player in the film, Billy Morrison, played brilliantly by Matt Gerald (who is the only acting light in this dire movie),as he has a hatred for anyone not white and is very vocal and aggressive about it.

The only good cop in the whole film is Terrence Burke, played by Robert Wisdom. He tries to keep his distance from the others and even gets his rookie partner A D, Malcolm Goodwin, to help him train the kids in his area at football. The only community-minded cop in the city, it would appear.

Even when the cop who's pursuing Sarcone's mob, Robert Jude (played by Michael McGrady) tries to recruit Malo by telling him what really happened to his father, you get the sense that he isn't as clean as he should be.

This is a pretty depressing tale that paints the majority of police in a bad light stating that most of them are corrupt and on the take. If I were in this city I'd not ask a policeman directions because they would direct you down an alley, shoot you in the back and steal all your valuables.

The writer, L Phillipe Casseus, gives the audience a bleak tale of greed and depravity in the police force. This isn't a bad thing, it's been done before; though, it's been done better. The fault, I believe, lies with the director Jessy Terrero, who probably only got the job because he'd worked with Jackson before.

Most of the scenes are slapdash and so brilliantly set out. Jackson, most of the time, stumbles around the sets without an idea of what his character is about. There is one hell of a lot to Malo and giving the role to a newbie, without proper direction, was a bad decision.

De Niro is at his shouty best here; stomping around, hitting and shooting things. Even though it's nice to see him go berserk he just does it too much - poor guy must have needed some lockets afterwards to soothe his throat.

Forest Whitaker is brilliant as the drug-addled cop... so good that he actually does appear to have been on something. It was probably needed to get through this rubbish with most of his sanity intact. But it really didn't help the movie any, it just made his lines seem slurred and indistinguishable.

If you like any of the actors or cop drama's then I would recommend you to stay away from this pile of diatribe.

CROSSFIRE wasn't quite the dog of the film I was expecting but it's certainly no classic and it only barely gets there as an average and acceptable watch. There are two major problems with this production which drag it down and the first of those is lead actor Curtis Jackson, better known to the world as rapper 50 Cent. Jackson is no actor and is as wooden as they come, so watching him attempting to convey any emotion apart from the most basic happy/sad expression is a real chore and quite embarrassing in places.

The second problem is the familiarity of the material. CROSSFIRE feels like a Frankenstein's Monster of a movie, made up of bits and pieces from TRAINING DAY, RAMPART, STREET KINGS, and at least half a dozen others. Heck, Forest Whitaker is here and playing nearly EXACTLY the same role as he essayed in STREET KINGS. Despite these problems, CROSSFIRE is occasionally thrilling in places and there's a lot of involved material to fill up the running time. Robert De Niro is barely in it but at least he doesn't embarrass himself and there's a nice minor part for Dana Delany. While I enjoyed CROSSFIRE in places I do feel that with a better lead actor and story it could have been something truly great rather than just average.