One of the most renowned and flexible actors in Hollywood is Denzel Washington, he is known for his dominance, and ability to create depth and truthfulness in each of his roles. During his successful acting years, Washington has acted in numerous genres but some of his highly rated performances are drama, action, or movie thrillers which are mostly crime-related. Here we present the 5 best Denzel Washington movies.
5) Inside Man (2006)
Denzel, times heist film, equals Spike Lee. Washington plays Detective Keith Frazier, a NYC policeman who is trailing behind a gang of robbers that keeps evading him by three or four steps. They have held up a bank in Manhattan; everybody inside the building is being kept hostage. This makes everything that Frazier does blow up on his face, whilst it seems that the criminals are just playfully tormenting the man. The director’s leanings towards seriousness are evident in this movie than ever before while Washington ported Brutus from his recent Julius Caesar at Broadway to Frazier’s sore nobility. “I was like Brutus goes to Brooklyn,” he reminisced about playing this character. It is an amazing thriller with a surprising twist that turns morality upside down. “Respect,” Dalton Russell, the leader of Clive Owen’s gang points out, “is the ultimate currency.”
4) Man On Fire (2004)
Washington’s characters are always brought down by any victory either through compromise or degeneration yet they have such deep moral cores that are often obscured from view. Tony Scott’s Man On Fire is a good example: former CIA guy John Creasy has become an alcoholic, unhappy mercenary who hits rock bottom and then gets another chance when he agrees to protect Pita (played by Dakota Fanning whom Washington will later work with again on screen in The Equalizer 3), his boss’s young daughter from kidnappers. But it doesn’t take time before she is taken away by dark forces and now Creasy must rescue her back again. It becomes very gory towards the end particularly because Creasy keeps becoming more desperate to save her life. And I mean that literally: one person ends up dying because he sticks a bomb up their butt!
3) Malcolm X (1992)
Spike Lee chose to work with Washington on this historical biographical film about the great leader in the civil rights movement, and by 1992, it had taken nearly twenty-five years to finish. James Baldwin started writing a screenplay around 1968; he would later say that he would rather be “horse-whipped” than go through that again. The white director Norman Jewison had been on board but Lee insisted upon a Black helmer. There were even more protests and objections all around but nobody could argue with Washington’s terrific central performance: there was hardly one character being depicted here but rather three or four in Malcolm X’s transformation from petty thief to spiritual guide. Al Pacino scooped the Best Actor Oscar, much to everyone’s disbelief. “I’m not the only one who thinks Denzel was robbed on that one,” Lee said afterthought.
2) Crimson Tide (1995)
The film from which a fruitful relationship between director Tony Scott and Washington began, Crimson Tide takes the actor onto the sea and below it as an executive officer of a nuclear submarine who has just been promoted. Only a few actors can withstand Gene Hackman’s fire but Washington was more than up to the task as unruffled Lieutenant Commander Ron Hunter also known for his love-hate relationship with Captain Franklin Ramsey when Russian ultra-nationalists threatened to throw missiles at Japan and America. This was Washington playing along with the script instead of battling against it, keeping his natural charisma down, except for a few instances where they are both vying for control of the boat at risk of human lives. He is famously known for publicly disagreeing with Quentin Tarantino about some parts of his script on grounds that they were racist; though they reconciled years later.
1) Training Day (2001)
One common theme in all these roles played by Washington is that they are authority figures who go far outside their jurisdictions to catch criminals whenever they want them so badly. Detective Alonzo Harris probably takes this notion to the extreme: right after Antoine Fuqua’s thriller starts he makes his junior partner Jake (Ethan Hawke) smoke weed while holding him hostage using a gun only to disclose later that it was laced with PCP. That’s not a good person! As Alonzo runs away from bad choices made a long time ago, they get deeper into L.A.’s steeply unprincipled population over 24 hours. Relaxed and lively, Training Day provides an opportunity for Washington’s most uncontrolled and unpredictable portrayal yet, which he enjoys doing. Kaboom!
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