BEFORE: From hot, sunny Jamaica days we move to hot, sultry L.A. nights -
THE PLOT: An African-American private detective is hired to find a woman and gets mixed up in a murderous political scandal.
AFTER: Set back in the L.A. of 1948 - a city that was still culturally segregated in many ways. Like "Get Shorty", this was the first film featuring an author's long-running hero - Denzel Washington plays Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins, star of several books by Walter Mosley. But I guess this one didn't catch on as a series, or else Hollywood just never got around to filming any more.
It's too bad, since it's got a unique perspective, telling a tale of a black man in the 40's - who has a mortgage and debts, and is therefore forced to take jobs he may not want, much like Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe or other classic film detectives. In this case he's hired by a man representing a white mayoral candidate, to go into the underground black club scene to find a missing woman.
Unfortunately there were a few too many characters in this film, and the plot was a little too twisty, making it a little hard to follow. I'm not sure if the fault lies with me or with the filmmakers, but I guess I would have liked a little more explanation of how the missing woman was tied to the mayoral race. And the big reveal didn't seem that shocking to me, I guess it would have been more of a scandal back in 1948.
But just like in "Out of Time" and "Fallen", Denzel's character can't seem to solve a crime without getting mixed up in everything and implicated for murder himself...I guess that's a fairly common motif in crime movies, but it's odd to see it turn up three times this week.
Also starring Tom Sizemore (last seen in "Passenger 57"), Don Cheadle (last seen in "The Meteor Man"), Jennifer Beals (last seen in "Flashdance"), Terry Kinney (most famous for being on HBO's "Oz"), Lisa Nicole Carson (most famous for being on "Ally McBeal"), and character actor Maury Chaykin (last seen in..."Twins", I think.)
Update the board - 4 days left on the Comic-Con countdown clock...
RATING: 5 out of 10
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