The trio is taken under the wing of Joe Sarcone (De Niro), Malo’s father’s former partner, who is now the head of a drug task force. Now, Malo and two of his friends (Ryan O’Nan and Malcolm Goodwin) are themselves fresh-faced members of the NYPD. At all.Ĭent plays Jonas “Malo” Malonado, whose police officer father was murdered when he was a boy. No matter what kind of star power is in it, though, Freelancers lives up to (down to?) the expectations that enter one’s head when they hear “straight-to-DVD movie starring a rapper.” It is not good. That they’re playing second fiddle to 50 Cent is even more mystifying. How Robert de Niro and Forest Whitaker ended up in a movie that essentially went straight to DVD and Blu-Ray is beyond me.