It's Summer 1948 Los Angeles. War vet Easy Rawlins (Denzel Washington) from Texas needs a new job with few options. His bartender friend introduces him to DeWitt Albright (Tom Sizemore) who is looking for missing Daphne Monet (Jennifer Beals). Daphne is the girlfriend of powerful Todd Carter (Terry Kinney) and known to hang out at black clubs. He knows this is trouble but he takes the job anyways.
This is dripping with noir style. The most interesting aspect is the racial tension which is a little different than the old Hollywood genre. Denzel Washington is a great actor in the lead. Something is missing from this story. It's like a series of random things happening to him. Everybody is playing a genre character. I'm not sure if any of the story makes sense. This movie is mostly style over substance. The style is all there. The substance is an uncompelling mess. It's a full time job trying to keep the story and the motivations straight.
This is dripping with noir style. The most interesting aspect is the racial tension which is a little different than the old Hollywood genre. Denzel Washington is a great actor in the lead. Something is missing from this story. It's like a series of random things happening to him. Everybody is playing a genre character. I'm not sure if any of the story makes sense. This movie is mostly style over substance. The style is all there. The substance is an uncompelling mess. It's a full time job trying to keep the story and the motivations straight.