This film - one of Denzel Washington's earlier efforts, before he became a household name in the early 90s - sounds intriguing at first glance. He plays a chief of police on an unnamed Caribbean island (a scarcely concealed Jamaica, where the film was shot). If you can ignore his constantly shifting accent (sometimes Jamaican, sometimes American, sometimes British) then this might be worth a look for DW fans - he gives a decent performance and is really the only thing that keeps this film afloat. He's let down though by a very weak script - the film can't quite decide what it wants to be: cop film, a political thriller, romance, an exploration of post-colonial racial tensions, or travelogue-esque exploration of Caribbean culture, and the central narrative thrust (some nonsense about a briefcase of money and a corpse) really isn't interesting or fleshed out enough to sustain interest. New characters are flung at the screen every 10 minutes (Mimi Rogers, the fat American, the resort owner, the governor, the Latino contract killer, the witch etc. etc.) and it just gets wearisome trying to keep track of them all. DW's character for instance has at least three love interests in a film that's just a tad over 90 minutes.
The Jamaican location is something of a novelty for a Hollywood film I suppose, though don't go expecting any profound insights into the island and its culture from this (it's mostly an idealised 'Cool Runnings'-esque depiction of happy-clappy people devoted to reggae, ganja and rum). It's set almost entirely in a resort town and really doesn't make the most of its location (go see some actual Jamaican films, like The Harder They Come, Dancehall Queen, Third World Cop etc. for that).
Anyway, in a few months time when I've forgotten everything about this movie I'll remember DW's interesting performance at least, so it might be worth your time for that.
Review of The Mighty Quinn
