Coulda Been...

Rating: Null/10 (18 January 2000)

OK, first allow me to echo the continued praise of Denzel Washington. Great performance as Hurricane Carter...intense, focused, can't take your eyes off him. A sure Oscar nomination. Unfortunately, there's not much to rave about here aside from Denzel. Every other actor, with the possible exception of Lezra, seems somewhat lost, as if they wandered into the wrong movie. Particularly, the strange trio of Canadians "determined" to free Carter, who blandly wander through the movie in search of a purpose. Although their amateur detective work (performed with all the passion of someone calling for dinner reservations) leads to Carter's release, you keep hoping they'll pack up and return to Canada. And why does that one guy sound British? Dan Hedaya, portraying the racist cop with a vendetta against Carter, delivers the most banal dialogue in recent memory. Considering he imprisons an innocent man for 20 years, this role deserves more than stereotypical "bad guy" talk. His role is too one-dimensional to inspire any significant hate or fear; he seems more like a pesky roach you want to crush beneath the heel of your shoe. The film also failed to take good advantage of Bob Dylan's fantastic song "Hurricane." Sure, it crops up here and there during the story, but at fairly arbitrary and anticlimactic moments. Don't get me wrong, "The Hurricane" packs quite a punch (no pun intended), and nobody should miss Denzel's performance. But it's a very good movie that, like Carter, missed its chance at greatness.