it's not denzel "king kong" washington that held my attention throughout the movie, with his speeches, yelling, and "my nigga"s... no, in fact, it was ethan hawke as hoyt, an honest cop who is repeatedly pushed to the edge of reason and sanity by washington's character, a narc named alonzo. the conflict and intensity is real on hawke's face, like one of the nerdy kids who has been invited to sit at the table with the cool kids- only they're doing bad shit he wasn't aware of. suddenly it's not so cool anymore. he's caught between a rock and a hard place over and over as the insanity increases and the legality declines. ayer's script may seem to meander around, placing focus on the most mundane elements- until the last act, when even some of the most superfluous scenes suddenly have relevance again. it's a big, dark, gritty, grimy jigsaw puzzle. i wasn't sure if i was going to like it. although antoine fuqua directed this, and directed it was laser-like precision, it was ayer's name on the writing credit that gave me pause. now, i normally really like ayer's stuff- whether he's writing or directing, but i was getting harsh times vibes from the first hour or so of training day, and i did not fucking like harsh times. thankfully, this movie shapes up to be a forward moving thriller in its own right, and i loved it. i was also worried it would hold few surprises for me, seeing as how it's so oft quoted, and just about everywhere in pop culture (see: memes) but that ended up not being the case. i seriously enjoyed this movie far more than i expected to. it's easily one of my new favorite cop thrillers. king kong ain't got shit on this movie.