A different Denzel - and how

Rating: Null/10 (8 January 2012)

Don't be misled by the innocuous title of this 2001 movie - for Los Angeles cop Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) on his first day with the narcotics division, this is going to be a day from hell. And don't be caught out by the casting of Denzel Washington as Detective Alonzo Harris, Jake's mentor-cum-nemesis - this is is not the Washington whom we first met in 1987 in "Cry, Freedom" who has since played a whole series of good guy roles. In this movie, he is one real m****r f****r. And, if you don't like this sort of language, don't watch the film because it is replete with four- and six-letter expletives as well as street language that is sometimes hard to follow .
Writer David Ayer and director Antoine Fuqua have provided a violent and bloody narrative that grips from start to finish. Both Washington and Hawke are rarely off the screen and Washington in particular gives a capital performance. In fact, both actors attracted Oscar nominations with Washington deservedly winning for Best Actor for his bravura turn. The Alonzo Harris character was loosely inspired by the disgraced LAPD officer Rafael Perez who served two prison terms totalling six years. If he ever saw the movie, he would feel that it could have been a whole lot worse.