10. Brooklyn's Finest
This is a film I will defend to my dying day. Sure, Antoine Fuqua's police drama is steeped in cliches of the genre, but I have always said it is how you manipulate genre tropes that make your film stand out within the barriers of said genre. Brooklyn's Finest is an intense and compelling picture about three hopeless police officers fighting the dangers of the job while pushing back against their own personal issues. Hawke plays Sal, one of three central roles (the other two being Don Cheadle and Richard Gere). Sal is a family man who loses sight of his moral center in order to swipe enough drug money to help his family. his heart is in the right place but his methods are irrevocably corrupt. The darkness in Sal is exemplified by the scowl Hawke carries throughout the film and the nervous energy in each of his scenes. Brooklyn's Finest never found the audience or, in my opinion, never got enough love from the critical masses, but that doesn't change the fact that the film is a solid genre piece with a memorable performance from Hawke.