Denzel Washington Wasn’t an Action Star Until He Led This Gritty Thriller

The key difference between a good actor and a good movie star is that the actor succeeds by perfectly fitting into their role, and the movie star succeeds by standing out among everything else on screen. Occasionally, there is a performer who does both seamlessly, and Denzel Washington is one of those figures. Washington, a now two-time Oscar winner (in a just world, it should have been at least four times if we consider Malcolm X and The Tragedy of Macbeth), is among the greatest to ever grace the screen, and his particular strength comes in the way he manages a balance between the commercial and the prestige throughout his filmography.