A movie staring
Denzel Washington and
Ethan Hawke which opened on the 5th of October, 2001. I was there, and this is what I saw:
The film starts out with Ethan Hawke doing a great job playing Rookie: First Day as a Narc. When confronted with his new sergeant, Denzel, he gets weak in the knees, and begins to babble. Denzel, by sheer physical presence and a bad-ass charisma that just might wither the chrome off a low-riding vehical were it given the chance, earns every nervous twitch Ethan sends his way. We know who 'the man' is: and we know he's not Good Cop this time. No, no. This dude is as bad as bad can be without becoming good again.
They travel around the city, and it soon becomes apparent just how bad the sargent is. He offers Ethan a hit on a hash pipe, and when upright whitey declines, Denzel whips out his gun and presses it against the poor sop's temple.
Ethan does the right thing, and cashes out the bowl.
A few minutes later, we are treated to the spectacle of how pcp-laced marijuana affects Ethan Hawk's vision and sense of time. Fortunately, the trippy drug sequence doesn't last that long. They go to some other dude's house and drink scotch and wax philosphical about life on The Street. Ethan impresses us by saying 'It's all about your smiles and cries.' (which I am hardlinking just in case some day it becomes a rather famous phrase.)
Hell, even Denzel shrugs somewhat musefully at the comment.
Then on to other things. Such as stopping a pair rapists, who Ethan subdues and Denzel whacks in the nuts with his gun while using repetitvely the words 'Suck' and 'My' and 'Dick' and the ever intimidating 'Are you calling me a liar, asshole?' Then they meet up with Snoop Doggy Dogg and force him to regurgitate his crack stash.
Anyhow, it was a pretty good flick. Not excellent, a little on the derivative side, but the plot is alright and the acting is solid and by the end of it my life long prejudice against Ethan Hawke had been removed, and replaced with a mild respect for the boney-cheeked, goatee'd fella. He does get to kick some shit, and plays the man of integrity with an understated conviction and some flare.
And whoever the sound engineers were, they did something swell with the deep boom of guns being fired across Los Angeles streets. In a way, it made the city seem that much more attractive.
Majorly important update!!!: Denzel won an Oscar -- Best Actor, 2001 -- for his badassness super-fudge crooked cop sequence throughout the bulk of this decent flick. /endupdate (4-23-02)