Denzel Washington
2 Guns
(2013)
Blake Masters (screenplay), Steven Grant (based on the Boom! Studios graphic novels by)
2 wins.
Two hardened criminals get into trouble with the US border patrol after meeting with a Mexican drug lord, and then revelations start to unfold.
American Gangster
(2007)
Steven Zaillian, Mark Jacobson (article)
Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 11 wins & 32 nominations.
In 1970s America, a detective works to bring down the drug empire of Frank Lucas, a heroin kingpin from Manhattan, who is smuggling the drug into the country from the Far East.
Deja Vu
(2006)
Bill Marsilii, Terry Rossio
1 win & 5 nominations.
After a ferry is bombed in New Orleans, an A.T.F. agent joins a unique investigation using experimental surveillance technology to find the bomber, but soon finds himself becoming obsessed with one of the victims.
Flight
(2012)
John Gatins
Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 40 nominations.
Whip Whitaker is a commuter airline pilot. While on a flight from Orlando to Atlanta something goes wrong and the plane starts to fly erratically. With little choice Whip crashes the plane and saves almost all on board. When he wakes up in the hospital, his friend from the airline union introduces him to a lawyer who tells him there's a chance he could face criminal charges because his blood test reveals that he was intoxicated with alcohol and cocaine. He denies being impaired, so while an investigation is underway, he is told to keep his act together. However, letting go of his addiction is not as easy as it seems...
Inside Man
(2006)
Russell Gewirtz
6 wins & 8 nominations.
From a cell, a man tells us he has planned the perfect bank robbery; he invites us to watch. An efficient gang enters a Manhattan bank, locks the doors, and takes hostages. They work deliberately, without haste. Detective Frazier is assigned to negotiate, but half his mind is occupied with the corruption charges he is facing. The bank's president has something to protect in a safe deposit box, so he brings in Madeleine White, a high-power broker with a hidden agenda. With an army of police surrounding the bank, the thief, the cop, and the plutocrat's fixer enter high-stakes negotiations. Why are the robbers asking for a plane, if they are so competent and they know they won't get one? Why aren't they in more of a hurry? If the job's perfect, why is the thieves' leader in a cell?
John Q
(2002)
James Kearns
2 wins & 8 nominations.
John Quincy Archibald's son Michael collapses while playing baseball as a result of heart failure. John rushes Michael to a hospital emergency room where he is informed that Michael's only hope is a transplant. Unfortunately, John's insurance won't cover his son's transplant. Out of options, John Q. takes the emergency room staff and patients hostage until hospital doctors agree to do the transplant.
Man on Fire
(2004)
A.J. Quinnell (novel), Brian Helgeland (screenplay)
1 win & 6 nominations.
A wave of kidnappings has swept through Mexico, feeding a growing sense of panic among its wealthier citizens, especially parents. In one six-day period, there were twenty-four abductions, leading many to hire bodyguards for their children. Into this world enters John Creasy, a burned-out ex-CIA operative/assassin, who has given up on life. Creasy's friend Rayburn brings him to Mexico City to be a bodyguard to nine-year-old Pita Ramos, daughter of industrialist Samuel Ramos and his wife Lisa. Creasy is not interested in being a bodyguard, especially to a youngster, but for lack of something better to do, he accepts the assignment. Creasy barely tolerates the precocious child and her pestering questions about him and his life. But slowly, she chips away at his seemingly impenetrable exterior, his defenses drop, and he opens up to her. Creasy's new-found purpose in life is shattered when Pita is kidnapped. Despite being seriously wounded during the kidnapping, he vows to kill anyone involved in or profiting from the kidnapping. And no one can stop him.
Out of Time
(2003)
David Collard
4 wins & 7 nominations.
A Florida police chief must solve a vicious double homicide before he himself falls under suspicion.
Safe House
(2012)
David Guggenheim
1 win & 7 nominations.
Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) is a CIA rookie who is manning a safe house in Cape Town, South Africa, when Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) the CIA's most wanted rogue agent is captured and taken to the safe house. During Frost's interrogation, the safe house is overtaken by mercenaries who want Frost. Weston and Frost escape and must stay out of the gunmen's sight until they can get to another safe house.
The Bone Collector
(1999)
Jeffery Deaver (book), Jeremy Iacone (screenplay)
3 nominations.
A quadriplegic ex-homicide detective and his female partner try to track down a serial killer who is terrorizing New York City.
The Equalizer
(2014)
Richard Wenk (written by), Michael Sloan (television series) and Richard Lindheim (television series)
1 win & 9 nominations.
In The Equalizer, Denzel Washington plays McCall, a man who believes he has put his mysterious past behind him and dedicated himself to beginning a new, quiet life. But when McCall meets Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz), a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can't stand idly by - he has to help her. Armed with hidden skills that allow him to serve vengeance against anyone who would brutalize the helpless, McCall comes out of his self-imposed retirement and finds his desire for justice reawakened. If someone has a problem, if the odds are stacked against them, if they have nowhere else to turn, McCall will help. He is The Equalizer.
The Equalizer 2
(2018)
Richard Wenk, Michael Sloan (based on the television series created by), Richard Lindheim (based on the television series created by)
1 win & 4 nominations.
Robert McCall serves an unflinching justice for the exploited and oppressed, but how far will he go when that is someone he loves?
The Hurricane
(1999)
Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter (book), Sam Chaiton (book), Terry Swinton (book), Armyan Bernstein (screenplay), Dan Gordon (screenplay)
Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 7 wins & 17 nominations.
This film tells the story of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, an African-American man who rose above his troubled youth to become a top contender for the middle-weight boxing title. However, his dreams are shattered when he is accused of a triple murder, and is convicted to three natural-life terms. Despite becoming a cause celebre and his dogged efforts to prove his innocence through his autobiography, the years of fruitless efforts have left him discouraged. This changes when an African-American boy and his Canadian mentors read his book and are convinced of his innocence enough to work for his exoneration. However, what Hurricane and his friends learn is that this fight puts them against a racist establishment that profited from this travesty and have no intention of seeing it reversed.
The Magnificent Seven
(2016)
Akira Kurosawa (based on the screenplay by), Shinobu Hashimoto (based on the screenplay by), Hideo Oguni (based on the screenplay by), Nic Pizzolatto (screenplay), Richard Wenk (screenplay)
5 wins & 12 nominations.
Director Antoine Fuqua brings his modern vision to a classic story in The Magnificent Seven. With the town of Rose Creek under the deadly control of industrialist Bartholomew Bogue, the desperate townspeople employ protection from seven outlaws, bounty hunters, gamblers and hired guns. As they prepare the town for the violent showdown that they know is coming, these seven mercenaries find themselves fighting for more than money.
Training Day
(2001)
David Ayer
Won 1 Oscar. Another 14 wins & 21 nominations.
On his first day on the job as a Los Angeles narcotics officer, a rookie cop goes on a 24-hour training course with a rogue detective who isn't what he appears.