King Kong ain’t got s*** on me!
Denzel Washington is the sort of actor who brings real gravitas to a role. He gives powerhouse performances in movies like Malcolm X, The Hurricane and Flight. He doesn’t always play good people, but he plays people you want to believe in. Even when he does more commercial movies, like Unstoppable or Man On Fire, he’s still the guy you want to root for.
And there is Training Day, which has just been put on UK Netflix.
Set over 12 hours, Ethan Hawke stars as a rookie LAPD officer assigned to Washington’s senior detective for evaluation. The thing is, Washington’s character is maybe the most crooked movie cop this side of Bad Lieutenant.
Washington leads Hawke around some of LA’s worst districts, as he gets deeper and deeper into his own web of corruption.
Needless to say, Washington is absolutely brilliant in the role, being both effortlessly cool and absolutely terrifying. This against-type casting paid off during awards season as well, as he picked his first (and so far only) Best Actor Oscar for the film.
It is a fantastic, gritty thriller, and writer David Ayer would return to similar themes with 2012’s End of Watch.
Backing up Washington and Hawke are a great cast, including Eva Mendes, and musicians Macy Gray, Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg.
As you might expect with names like that, the soundtrack album was also a classic – Pharoahe Monch’s lead single remains an absolute banger.
And if you don’t have Netflix – or are just old and prefer linear TV – Training Day is actually on ITV4 as well tonight at 11.20pm.
