Daily Routine

Rating: Null/10 (7 March 2004)

This is a tired genre and the method of storytelling here (character dominated) runs from an even drier well of inspiration.
This is your only spoiler warning...
On the surface, you could call this a fusion of 'French Connection', 'Se7en', and any third cop movie you'd like, but there's no need for that. True, Fuqua and Fincher stemmed from the music video world, but that's where the similarities end. Fuqua's method is more Michael Bay and John Singleton. Fincher has promise because he knows where to channel that energy. Oh, well, at least Spike Lee is showing change...
Hawke does his 'Dead Poets' bit all over again playing a rookie--how ironic. What's really shocking here is the emphasis on Denzel. He and Tom Hanks have so much in common that I'm not surprised that they were in 'Philadelphia' together. Both rely on taking self-assured "mr. right" roles. Both have lately tried to be "mr. deep", making some noble failures. 'Glory' marked a time when Denzel really tried.
Unfortunately, this takes too many cues from the last 20 years of cop shows and two Cameron movies ('Strange Days', 'Point Break') to be anything interesting. Rather than throwing us another "bad cop" cliche, Fuqua should have made false leads and layered backstories to make us think more often.
Then again, what do we expect from the director of 'Replacement Killers' when he's working with the writer of 'Fast and Furious'?
Final Analysis = = Cinematic Dud