A sinister look at the look of dirty world of undercover police - contains spoilers

Rating: 7/10 (18 December 2002)

This movie is about a naïve cop Jake, played by Ethan Hawke, on his first day as a narcotic officer, being trained by the dirty corrupt guy who runs it, Alonzo, played by Denzel Washington. His character is so evil, sinister, and every other bad characteristic that you could think of, he has it, including openly flaunting his infidelity. It is to the point where if you want anything bad to happen to anyone on the film, it would be him instead of the guys committing the crimes. But at the same time, he actually thinks he is doing the right thing, believing that he is some sort of demagogue. Denzel is very good in portraying all that in this character, that is, everything except for any redeeming characteristics.
Some other parts are a little more unbelievable, like Alonzo letting Jake in on his secret dirty dealing, not even knowing if Jake will be openly receptive to the assassination and looting of drug money that he and his gang regularly enrich themself with, then putting Jake on the quandary of coming on board or snitch and be blamed for the whole thing. I would assume if they want to introduce someone into their inner circle, they should either be receptive or do not object to such dealings. The other cops on Alonzo's team seem to be characters straight out of some illicit gang, with more criminal than law enforcement attitude and personality. Others issues includes the cardboard cutout characters of the dirty politician and DA. They are like a pack of crooks who has nothing in common except for their corrupt dealings. Looking at the deleted scenes on the DVD, it was good of them to delete the last scene where they collectively go to Jake's residence for the loot that he took from Alonzo. The ending is also over the top, with the faceoff between the two cops in the street, with Alonzo's street homies not coming to his aid, instead letting them two take it out mano-a-mano, including sliding a gun to him when he didn't have one.
I guess at the end, Alonzo knew it its over for him, having messed around with some people even above this demagogue's head. So instead of running, he is accepting fate.
Despite the movie's flaws, it is still a gritty hard look at the dirty side of undercover police world.