Denzel makes this movie!

Rating: 8/10 (23 July 2004)

This is a cracking cop thriller. The premise is simple, with Ethan Hawkes rookie cop taken on a training day with experienced and hardened officer Denzel Washington. He soon discovers that Denzel has let the position of power go to his head and that he is quite prepared to abuse his power. Hawke is excellent in his role as the rookie caught up in a terrible world of police corruption and he is deserving of his Oscar nomination, perhaps deserved of the win. Denzel is superb though. His character is meaty, with this guy almost being a personification of evil while also having other personalities to him, a character who is almost trying to delude himself into thinking that he is an upholder of the law. Washington is amazing, this is one of the greatest bad guy performances ever. Denzel is like a firecracker, one minute he is exploding and showing off an alarming attitude towards policing and the next he is talking Hawkes character round, convincing him that what they do is right. He is so good he almost talks the audience round at the same time. Of course the film may seem very exaggerated in regards to the police corruption in LA (ten cops from each precinct can be charged with abusing their privileges and the law apparently!). Overall this is a classy thriller directed with style by Antoine Fuqua. ****