(rated R, 120 mins)
A gritty realistic drama set in the morally ambiguous world of undercover police investigation, comes the story of a veteran cop to newcomer rookie Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) who has idealistic interpretations of what a police officer should be in Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington). Under a ticking clock, Hoyt finds he has only one day to prove himself on an anti-drug squad against this charismatic superior who is bad, mad and full of himself. The success of this story comes not in the good cop/bad cop premise, but the reversal of role for always good and righteous Denzel (The Hurricane, Malcolm X, Philadelphia) Washington and from Ethan (Dead Poets Society, Hamlet) usually playing a twisted character, instead of a true sympathetic underdog. A solid Hollywood film of violence and delivery proving that director Antoine Fuqua himself, is not in training.
