Friday, January 14, 2000 Dayton Daily News Lead actor helps 'Hurricane' dodge script's telegraphed punches By Dave Larsen

 

Denzel Washington gives a ferocious performance in The Hurricane, establishing himself as a top contender in a tightly contested Oscar race that likely will pit him against Kevin Spacey, Richard Farnsworth and Russell Crowe for the best-actor prize.

The newly lean and muscular Washington plays Rubin Carter, a boxer nicknamed 'The Hurricane' who in 1966 was one fight away from the middleweight crown. Carter's dreams were destroyed when he was wrongly arrested along with a fan, John Artis (Garland Whitt), for the murders of three people in a seedy New Jersey bar. They were convicted by an all-white jury and sentenced to three life terms.

Championed by Muhammad Ali and immortalized in song by Bob Dylan, Carter is a more fitting subject for a film biography than, say, eccentric comedian Andy Kaufman. Veteran director Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night, Moonstruck) presents a stirring account of Carter's 20-year fight for justice, focusing on the convict's relationship with Lesra Martin (Vicellous Reon Shannon), a Brooklyn youth living in Canada who mounted a campaign to free Carter after reading his prison-penned autobiography, The 16th Round.

Washington dropped nearly 60 pounds, lifted weights and trained as a boxer for the role. He portrays Carter with steely intensity in a performance that is better than the film.

Screenwriters Armyan Bernstein (One From the Heart) and Dan Gordon (Murder in the First) take many liberties with Carter's life story, such as reducing the number of Canadian social activists who aided Martin to three from nine and omitting Carter's nine months of freedom during the 1970s after the New Jersey State Supreme Court overturned his convictions. He was re-convicted at a second trial and sent back to prison.

The script's obviousness strikes a much bigger blow. Jewison wears his intentions on his sleeve, leading us by hand through the story to the point where we know what's coming in nearly every scene. Like many year-end films, it runs long at almost 2 1/2 hours.

The opening scenes nicely outline the drama as Jewison cuts among a brutal boxing match, a tense prison standoff and the Paterson, N.J., murders. It's clear that Carter is being railroaded by racist Detective Vincent Della Pesca (Dan Hedaya), who hounds him from childhood with the ruthless tenacity of Les Miserables' Inspector Javert.

The story jumps seven years to a library book sale in Toronto, where Martin discovers a well-worn copy of The 16th Round. The bright but illiterate urban youth is being home-schooled by liberal activists Terry Swinton (John Hannah), Lisa Peters (Deborah Kara Unger) and Sam Chaiton (Liev Schreiber).

There's an overwhelming sense of destiny as Martin begins reading the book, which serves as a springboard for flashbacks of Carter's life, narrated by Washington.

Imprisoned as a youthful offender, Carter made his body a weapon and with it rose to fame. Facing life behind bars for the triple homicide, he turns fiercely inward and sharpens his mind. Not until he befriends Martin does Carter pull out of himself and pick up his own fight to be released. 'Hate put me in prison,' Carter says. 'Love is gonna bust me out.'

Set against the social unrest of the 1960s, The Hurricane convincingly portrays Carter as a victim of racial injustice.

Washington, who won an Oscar for Glory and earned nominations for Cry Freedom and Malcolm X, simmers and seethes in the role. Shannon (Can't Hardly Wait) makes a fine transformation from street tough to scholar.

Hedaya (Dick) is loathsome as the vile Della Pesca, while Urbana native Clancy Brown (Starship Troopers) plays his opposite as compassionate prison guard Lt. Jimmy Williams.

Despite Jewison's conventional treatment, The Hurricane is a rousing and inspirational film that alone is worth seeing for Washington's knock-out performance.

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