It is a roller-coaster ride through the mean streets of Los Angeles and Alonso’s unorthodox style has trouble lurking around every corner. At first Jake plays Alonso’s game but as the day wears on and the senior’s modus operandi gets more complex, the seeds of doubt are sown. That these two cops are heading for a showdown is inevitable. When and how is the question.

David Ayer’s screenplay is a bit too wordy as it delves into the different layers of the narcotics mafia. But it takes the viewers deep into the grey areas of the issue. Shades of "Fight Club" in which one traverses a knife-edge not knowing which side is right. And director Antoine Fuqua keeps his viewer quite engrossed. Suspense is there in copious doses and is matched by action. Wearing a huge cross like a priest or a bishop, Alonso ruffles quite a few feathers. Are his motives honest? Or does he have a hidden agenda? Well, that’s the crux of the film.

It is a taut drama of crime and punishment and how the keepers of the law get into a labyrinth of problems and with Denzel Washington doing the honours it is plausible fare from start to finish, only it could have done with a wee bit more pace. Ethan Hawke may suffer by contrast even though he does a pretty good job. Scott Glenn and Tom Berenger have negligible cameos because it is essentially a two-horse race. But this is no run-of-the mill stuff. This day in the life of a rookie narcotics cop is surely a day to remember.

The Glass House is a suspense-thriller which has its moments but somewhat low on credibility. It has the viewer engrossed most of the time but at the end of the day one is sure to pick holes because some of the sequences are clearly contrived.

When teenage Ruby (Leelee Sobieski) and Rhett Baker (Trevor Morgan) find themselves orphaned almost overnight (their parents are killed in a car accident) they are forced to relocate themselves to Malibu California. That the siblings do not hit it out together only adds to the drama. But when their foster parents Dr Aaron Glass (Diane Lane) and her husband Terry (Stellan Skensgaard) appear to be the shady type the cup of suspense seems to be filled to the brim.

To begin with Ruby finds it hard to adjust to the West Coast culture in school and when her foster father Terry helps her with her homework one soon suspects ulterior motives. After all Ruby is an attractive young woman who would elicit more than a passing interest in her middle-aged parent.

Wesley Stream’s screenplay is at best workable. And director Daniel Seakheim gets off to a good start. The establishing shots are impressive and the viewer is soon plunged into the thick of things. But then things don’t exactly fit in well. The Glasses as a couple do not exactly hit it off which is okay as far as the plot goes but some of the things that follow are clearly contrived.

May be Leelee Sobieski does her best to keep the film going but Stellan Skensgaard limps along most unconvincingly. Diane Lane as the mother is fair but she does not get enough of footage and young Trevor Morgan never really gets into the spirit of things. But if one can overlook the credibility it does keep the viewer going. It is mainly after the curtain comes down that one feels sort of cheated. It flatters only to deceive. Recommended only if you have nothing better to do.