After yesterday’s parade of posing, it’s nice to actually
sit down with a proper king of cool for today’s film. Specifically, the man,
the legend and the recently dwindling star that is Denzel Washington. His
notoriety as an actor is properly set in stone through his work with Spike Lee
and the Scott brothers, but his more recent work is somewhat less compelling.
Denzel and director Antoine Fuqua have brought each other much adoration in the
past through Training Day, but between the somewhat middling The Equalizer and
the outright disappointment of The Magnificent Seven retooling, he hasn’t been
at his best of late. Knowing the extremely presentist mindset of today in terms
of pop culture, it’s not much of a stretch to say that this guy’s legacy could
be in jeopardy in the minds of current filmgoers. Hopefully, today’s film will
present a possible resurgence. This is Fences.
