STARS : DENZEL WASHINGTON, ETHAN HAWKE, TOM BERENGER & SCOTT GLENN

Jake Hoyt (Hawke) has been a cop for 19 months and longs to make detective but in ORDER to do so needs to get out of the office and into the streets so he can prove himself. Finally, after getting assigned to Narcotics he believes that he’s going to get the opportunity to achieve his dream.

But he doesn’t count on Detective Alonzo Harris (Washington). Harris is in charge of the Narcotics division and he has given Hoyt just one day to prove that be has what it takes to be a member of his team.

Harris has been working narcotics for 13 years but his idea of what is right and what is clearly wrong is seriously corrupted and he has slowly become submerged in the world he’s supposed to be ridding the city of.

Corruption, Blackmail & Violence : these are everyday events for Harris but throw in some personal problems and Harris is about to cross the line once and for all and in the process, drag Jake with him.

As the day progress, Jake discovers that this is going to be the longest 12 hours of his life and as the tasks they get involved in get progressively more life threatening, it’s a day that may very well change his life and not necessarily in the way that he has hoped.

Both Denzel and Ethan were nominated for Academy Awards for their roles in this film with Denzel eventually beating everyone’s favourite “wanna be” Aussie Russell Crowe for Best Actor honours. Whilst initially dubious about whether he deserved to win the award, Denzel is simply brilliant playing against character as the disturbed Harris.

THE EXTRAS

* Audio Commentary : Director Antoine Fuqua talks extensively about what he wanted to achieve when making this film and although he lapses into periods of silence he gets across some wonderful details that you may have missed whilst simply sitting back and watching the movie. Fuqua tends to be bried in parts but still manages to get across relevant info that other directors dont do even if rambling for the entire film.

* Additional Scenes (12:30): These 4 entirely cut scenes, not extensions for a change, have been cut for obvious reasons and wouldn’t have served the film any better by being left in. Although, one of them though called “Central Avenue” provided some additional info on Harris that should have been put in the film somewhere if not in this scene.

* Alternate Ending (4:45): Identical for the couple of minutes to that in the final cut the ending has a longer conclusion centering around Hoyt and in my opinion serves us better than the somewhat sudden conclusion that we’ve been given.

* Making Of (15 mins): What we have here are interviews with Washington, Hawk, Fuqua and other members of the crew such as the writer and along with the brief look behind the scenes that usually accompany this type of promo.

* Cast & Crew : Although their are 7 actors from the movie listed you can only access 3 of them (Denzel, Hawke & Berenger) and then all you get is their filmographies.

* Theatrical Trailer : Same Old, Same Old

* Music Video : Nelly - #1

* Music Video : Pharoahe Monh - Got you

CONCLUSION

Whilst the plot is a little over the top, the stong acting of all the main players carries the film from start to finish.