Tony Scott's Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (10 January 2005)

...and what is it about Brian Helgeland being a brilliant screenwriter when he adapts someone else's material but sucks a big one when writing something original? MINOR SPOILER I'll skip the synopsis of the story and get right to it: Denzel Washington deserves his academy award for this film. He was great in Traning Day but's flat out amazing in this film as an assassin who is just plain through living. He's not suicidal, he's just DONE with life. In what will be seen by most as a paint-by-numbers first half where he finds a reason to live again through his protecting of the little girl (kind of a twist on the whole Beauty and the Beast story), the second half is a tour de force of violent revenge. When Creasy begins his rampage through Mexico it's with the most heartfelt declaration I have ever seen in film, "I'm going to kill them." The moment that makes it all come together is when Creasy finds her diary. I'm not going to spoil it.
END MINOR SPOILER See this movie and let the emotions take you wherever you need to go. Get mad. This film is rare. There won't be more like it.