Moody cop drama more about streets than drama.

Rating: 7/10 (30 January 2005)

Wow. That was the feeling at the end of watching this film. I was greatly pleased after seeing it. It was a very easy movie to watch; the dialog went smooth and fast, the clips of gangsta rap and mood of the music was spot-on, and the acting was as bombastic as the characters were written. Also the directing by Antoine Fuqua (Replacement Killers, Tears of the sun...after Training Day) couldn't have been more brilliant and full of visual changes for the audience.
Basically, Ethan Hawke plays a new NARC on the beat. He doesn't know what to expect out of Denzel Washington's character except that he is his trainer and an experienced detective. Denzel meticulously plans his real-life curriculum for Hawke to learn, and since Denzel's character is known in the surrounding neighborhoods as a detective who cuts deals with potential rapists, murderers, and drug dealers, he pushes buttons all throughout the neighborhood, brandishing Hawke as his protegé. When Hawke continues to see shady deal after shady deal, he begins to suspect that Washington is up to something but cannot place what it is. It comes down to the end when Hawke must choose what he was taught in the ethics training of the other policemen or what Denzel's character allows him to get away with on the street.
There is not enough praise to give the actors and actresses, including Eva Mendes as Washington's girlfriend stuck in the ghetto with her son. I'm not particularly fond of Ethan Hawke in the action roles (to me, he looks kind of fake and unbelievable), but in this movie, there seems to be plenty going on to forget this small mirage. And Denzel was spectacular; he had this character down pact. He loves playing the same types of roles, but this one was almost written for him because of the delivery and positioning that he displays every time the camera is on him.
The Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre appearances didn't need to be there, but there's no doubt about the power of being the director's friends. Snoop was better than Dre, I think, mainly because he was given more of a character to portray (while placed in a wheelchair of all things for the most notable cool-cat in rapping business). But other than their puzzling cameos, the movie does great to entertain and keep you guessing every bit of the way.
I gave it a 7/10 because it doesn't have the look about a classic film and to constantly watch it, it would get tedious, but the feel and look of the whole thing keeps you entertained for a few watches. It's worth the buy, but rent it first to get a deeper story to see if it's your type of action/cop drama movie.