Complete Monster: Earl Talbot Blake is a cruel hitman who is seen murdering a drug dealer for his money before he is pursued by a cop named Nick Styles. After taking a woman hostage, Blake is arrested by Styles and rots for years in jail while burning with hatred for his captor. Blake escapes by causing a massacre of a parole hearing and murders a man to serve as a stand-in for Blake's corpse. Blake proceeds to hound Styles, injects him full of drugs, and films him being raped by a prostitute to destroy Styles's career, marriage, and life. Blake later kills Styles's partner and gleefully says he wants to destroy everything Styles has. When his own loyal right-hand man finally has enough, Blake murders him, too.
Ham and Cheese: The movie is pretty much a cheesy Exploitation Film with a budget, and Denzel Washington and John Lithgow both lean into that as hard as they can, giving the kind of ham-tastic performance that several major religions might forbid.
Hilarious in Hindsight: It's only fitting that prior to playing Malcolm X, Denzel (or rather, Nick Styles) would see a Malcolm Xerox on TV, that is, the talk show guest who was going on about a conspiracy to bring Nick Styles down.
Retroactive Recognition: If the man himself is to be belived, Derek Savagenote Real name possibly Darryl R. Evans is visible on-screen as an extra in a few scenes.
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