Ethan Hawke's first day with the LAPD drugs squad means an eye-opening drive around the tougher side of town with veteran cop Denzel Washington
Ethan Hawke's first day with the LAPD drugs squad means an eye-opening drive around the tougher side of town with veteran cop Denzel Washington.
In an Oscar-winning performance, Washington is terrific as a brutal, duplicitious, crude and unlikeable character. Fast-talking, streetwise and with a permanent insinuating smile, he seems to know everything there is to know about undercover police work and more.
However, as Hawke’s first day turns into a lesson in corruption, robbery and murder he’s soon thinking he's sitting next to a psychotic maniac rather than a model cop - and Washington being in trouble with the Russian Mafia adds another gritty angle to things.
The clever way in which we are made to share Hawke's puzzled point of view generates a huge amount of suspense and the pivotal, coincidence-driven twist makes the movie.
