Training Day

2. "Training Day" (2001)

On paper, this crime drama doesn't sound like much — an ambitious rookie spends the longest day of his life trailing an older narcotics agent who is, to put it mildly, a little crooked. What Washington does with his corrupter-than-thou cop, however, ... moretransforms a common thriller into the wildest of rides. Armed with a license to indulge every explosive, id-fuelled notion that pops into his head, Denzel's swaggering king of the streets comes off like a cross between Mephistopheles and the smoothest mack daddy you've ever seen. "King Kong ain't got nothing on me!" he screams, and though you have no idea what his character is going to do next, chances are good that it will be something very, very bad. The actor earned another Oscar for gilding the razor's edge so skillfully; if there was a golden statue for making us both laugh and wet ourselves with fear every time he flashed that coiled cobra-smile, we'd have insisted they awarded him that as well.

(Image: Everett Collection)