Santo said:
As far as I can remember, Denzel only killed one person in Training Day. Meanwhile, Cruise killed just about everybody in sight.
He admitted to killing another person on vacation, which lead to the killing he did beforehand. And he paid money to have his trainee Jake Hoyt turfed. Lord only knows how many murders he's been involved with before. Oh yeah, and he's doing all this while being a COP. That adds heavily to the "evil as fuck" scale.
Alonzo Harris character wasn't about killing people persay. It was about power. He exhibited it during his staged drug bust, scaring the shit out of the occuptants of the car and taking their stash, and then just left them in the middle of the road instead of arresting them. He exhibited his power over Hoyt when he basically forced him to smoke PCP at gunpoint. He exhibited it when he held one of the molesters up against a fence with a knife in his face, then smashed his nuts in with the butt of his gun, only to leave his ass on the ground instead of hauling him in. He exhibited it when he busted into a woman's home with a fake warrant and basically stole money from them. He exhibited it when he used an illegal procedure on a man in a wheelchair to cough up some drugs he had swallowed. He exhibited it when he went into "The Jungle", with the whole damn neighbourhood seemingly under his thumb. He exhibited it during the raid on Roger's house. And of course, he exhibited it when he paid for Hoyt's execution.
That's why Alonzo was such an evil motherfucker...he didn't have to kill anyone to get people to fear him. He simply had to let them know he could do just that.
Kruza said:
How about Cocktail? A Few Good Men? The Firm?
Cocky ass bartender.
Cocky ass naval officier.
Cocky ass lawyer.
These of course fit in well with his other roles...
Cocky ass pimp.
Cocky ass pilot.
Cocky ass race car driver.
Cocky ass car salesman and brother.
Cocky ass agent.
Cocky ass pervert.
Like I said previously, the similiarity in his roles has never bothered me...I've enjoyed several of his movies, and find his character to be entertaining, so that's all I care. But for someone to knock Denzel for playing the same character in every movie while ignoring Cruise is just silly.