Denzel Does Kingsley

Rating: 7/10 (30 March 2002)

I write this in the post-Oscars afterglow of Denzel Washington's victory. Pity the movie wasn't more worthy of honours on its' own. I greatly enjoyed the first hour, Massa Washington chewed the scenery with a relish reminiscent of Ben Kingsley's Don Logan in "Sexy Beast". But the filmmakers kept upping the ante past the point of ridiculousness. The pretence of realism gives way to a Hollywood shoot 'em up near the end and cost it a point or two in my estimation.