Some people who work in film are actors, and some are stars. Denzel Washington is undeniably both. The TV drama St. Elsewhere first brought him attention, but his supporting role as antiapartheid martyr Steve Biko in Cry Freedom proved that he belonged on the big screen. Throughout his impressive career he has shifted effortlessly from drama to comedy. He can disappear into a character or carry a movie with just his personality. His current release, Man on Fire, is a further expansion of his range. Here are some other Washington movies worth seeing.
• Fallen (1998). John Hobbes (Washington) has a strange case to investigate. A serial killer he captured is executed, but murders that follow the same pattern continue to occur. Fallen is no ordinary police thriller, for Hobbes’ investigation takes him into the world of the occult. He discovers that the killer is not human but rather a fallen angel or demon who possesses the bodies of human beings to carry out the killings. Watching the entity pass from person to person, with each one taunting Hobbes, is fascinating. Fallen may not be one of Washington’s most significant films, but it is refreshing to see an occult thriller that relies more on cleverness than on effects. Look for James Gandolfini and Aida Turturro (brother and sister in The Sopranos) as fellow cops.
• The Hurricane (1999). Rubin “Hurricane” Carter (Washington), a rising middleweight boxer, was falsely accused of murder in the 1960s and railroaded by a racist justice system. Much of the film deals with Carter’s friendship with Lesra (Vicellus Reon Shannon), an African-American youth who, along with his guardians (Deborah Unger, Liev Schreiber, and John Hannah), sets out to prove Carter’s innocence and secure his release from prison. This long film is slow going at first but becomes more compelling in its second half. Washington is superb in one of his best roles as a man who is justifiably angry and bitter. The film received much criticism because minor details were reportedly altered to dramatize the story, which may have cost Washington an Oscar. But why was The Hurricane singled out when it is standard for Hollywood to change historical facts? This film nevertheless stands as one of the best dramas about injustices in the criminal system ever filmed.
• Training Day (2001). Washington’s second Oscar-winning role, as viciously corrupt cop Alonzo Harris, is spectacular. Washington takes his usual likable persona and turns it on its ear: Harris exudes evil. Ethan Hawke co-stars as Jake Hoyt, a rookie cop who has the misfortune of being trained by Alonzo as an undercover narcotics cop. Alonzo really puts Jake through the wringer. He manipulates and taunts Jake and tests his survival skills by deliberately placing him in dangerous situations. Most films of this type are geared toward a softening that undermines all that has come before, but Training Day stays the course, never resorting to a phony redemption. Washington has made a career of great performances, and this one may be his greatest. Hawke, who was wrongly relegated to the supporting-actor Oscar category, proves he is a far better actor than his earlier performances have indicated. Training Day has a slightly questionable conclusion, but for the most part it is a dark, uncompromising police thriller.
• John Q (2002). Hollywood movies used to have a social conscience,
but that seems to be mostly a thing of the past. The U.S. health-care system
is one of the biggest crises facing Americans, and John Q may be the
only major film to have tackled the issue. Its reward for good intentions was
a lambasting by both the critics and the public — I’m not sure why. Washington
stars in the title role as a Capraesque Everyman whose son will die without
a heart transplant. Having no insurance that will pay for the operation and
with no other options for saving his son’s life, he holds the operating room
hostage. The film may be a bit heavy-handed in its message, but the father’s
misguided solution is plausible. John Q, of course, does not condone
the use of a gun to solve such problems, but it is effective in dramatizing
one man’s desperation.
This article appears in May 6-12, 2004.
