Netflix is now streaming one of Denzel Washington’s best steamy thrillers

polygon.com:

One of the great mystery movies and neo-noirs of the late 20th century has finally come to Netflix, giving a new audience an opportunity to experience one of Denzel Washington’s finest roles. Devil in a Blue Dress, Carl Franklin’s adaptation of Walter Mosley’s excellent 1990 novel, has recently been added to the streaming service. The movie is 100 minutes of atmospheric excellence. It’s tense when it needs to be, sexy when it wants to be, and always captivating.

In late 1940s Los Angeles, Denzel Washington is Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, a World War II veteran recently laid off and looking to make ends meet. When a friend introduces him to a private investigator looking to hand off a seemingly straightforward job — find a missing woman — Easy gets pulled into a web of conspiracies and deception, putting him in the crosshairs of some of the most powerful people in the city.

It’s a gripping story about postwar racial divisions in 1940s LA, and every element of the movie works in concert to create a complete picture of its main character and the world he inhabits. Devil in a Blue Dress fires on all cylinders, using every avenue available in cinema. Gorgeous cinematography, period-accurate production design, an evocative score, standout performances, sharp dialogue, and a whirlwind narrative all support and build on each other. There’s nothing extraneous in Devil in a Blue Dress — every single decision works together to create a larger whole.

The film is particularly deft at displaying how Washington’s noir lead isn’t able to navigate the world in the same ways as white detectives in similar films, something Franklin was particularly interested in exploring within the movie.

“Obstacles are the key to drama,” Franklin told Slate in 2022, when the movie was added to the Criterion Collection. “If it was a Sam Spade character, you know there’s going to be the one cop who’s going to be cool with him, and the other cop is going to want to break his neck. In Easy’s case, both cops