Washington and Hawke's powerhouse performances fuel this fantastic thriller that's masterfully realistic and breathlessly entertaining.

Rating: 8/10 (4 November 2017)

It's a piece built around two powerhouse performances, the first being Denzel Washington's Oscar-winning turn as an unpredictably volatile veteran detective confidently walking on the wrong side of crooked and the second being Ethan Hawke's slightly over-looked (probably because it isn't as 'loud' as his co-star's) yet still deservedly Oscar-nominated rendition of a naively honest rookie who's determination to do things 'by-the-book' gets directly in the way of his desire to make detective, and it is the ever-changing relationship between these two equally interesting characters that drives the piece forward with a constant momentum that often amounts to edge-of-your-seat suspense; it's really thanks to the amazingly grounded and realistic script that the film is so effective, as every single line of dialogue feels incredibly natural and each word that is said adds to the overall narrative in some way, and the effortlessly entertaining picture becomes incredibly engaging by its pulse pounding third act to the point that its few issues can be easily ignored - truly a phenomenal piece of filmmaking. 8/10