A gritty film.

Rating: 9/10 (12 October 2001)

I personally have to say that Antoine Fuqua is an outstanding director. This is the better of the two "action" films I have seen (The Replacement Killers is the other). He has a great eye for film when it comes to directing and even his music videos are entertaining.
This film caught me off guard. As I'm sure many other people than I have felt going to see it, I thought it would be horrible. When the first 10 minutes or so went by, I could tell it would AT LEAST be entertaining. When the story began to unfold, I was actually into the movie.

The character development in this movie is great. Denzel Washington played a great anti-hero and I would not be surprised if he won some awards for his performance. Ethan Hawke also played an immensely convincing role.

The director, perhaps, was the best part of the movie. Fuqua has a magnificent eye for setting up scenes. The drug hallucination part was a brilliant way of showing it.
I gave this film 8/10! If you have a chance and you like action and good plots, GO SEE IT!