It started out so well - the idealistic rookie confronted with a morally ambiguous bad-ass cop who pushes the boundaries to breaking point, but is actually the one talking sense - that interplay is compelling - how far will Alonzo push Jake to prove his point? And then it all falls apart... credulity is stretched, the conspiracy kicks in, the ridiculous coincidences and the unrealistic brutal fighting. Ethan Hawke takes so much damage in the last twenty minutes he'd be in a coma. Having said that both Washington and Hawke do a great job (without whom the whole thing would be even less credible), and although I was hoping it would stay grounded in the real world and prove to be a modern classic it just ended up being a fairly exciting and ultimately silly cop thriller. If that's what you want or expect, it'll score highly.

Denzel acted like he was possessed by the devil himself. What a great movie.

The Shield: The Movie