Salim Adel (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) is a LAPD patrol cop. His partner Armando Sancho (Clifton Collins, Jr.) is a former gang member.

Cuba tries his best copy of Denzel in Training Day and it works for a little while. I think Denzel is just on a different level. Cuba seems to fade. He's not able to keep it up. As they follow their dark path, it becomes less and less relevant. I don't care about these characters. I find no rooting interest in either of these characters. In the end, I have little interest in the movie itself. This is only for die-hard Cuba fans.

In a Los Angeles dominated by violent gangs and a corrupt LAPD Precinct, the dirty Officer Armando Sancho (Clifton Collins Jr.) is haunted by his guilty since an innocent old man was accidentally killed in an operation with his also dirty partner Salim Adel (Cuba Gooding Jr.). The Internal Affairs is pressing Sancho, who feels split between the loyalty to his mates and his conscience, and he has to make a statement at 6:00 PM. When his superiors Captain Spain (Keith David) and his Lieutenant (Cole Hauser) assign the two cops for an operation dealing drugs apprehended by the police and stored as evidence with a powerful drug dealer, Sancho feels that something is wrong and they have been framed.

"Dirty" has a promising beginning, with the chain of thoughts of Officer Sancho about corruption ("With power came responsibility; with responsibility came opportunity; with opportunity came corruption, a plague where everybody gets sick"). His dramatic feelings, haunted by the ghost of an innocent man and feeling awful as a finger-pointing rat, give the sensation that Sancho is a rich contradictory character to be developed. However, the story is pointless, showing a hopeless society in a city dominated by gangs, lost youth and corrupt police force, but without any message in the end. I had never expected the redemption of any character, but I found the unpleasant plot a caricature and very manipulative view of the LAPD. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Dirty – O Poder da Corrupção" ("Dirty – The Power of the Corruption")

Rough-edged drama set in a violent crime ravaged city, where a former gang-banger, Armando Sancho(Clifton Collins Jr),brings his street smarts to an anti-gang unit. His partner is veteran Salim Adel(Cuba Gooding Jr),who himself is drugging and dealing while working undercover for the LAPD. Sancho and Adel have their own personal demons and begin to have trouble trusting each other. The two officers have to deal with the criminal element the only way they know how...on-the-fly and brutal. A gangster with a badge and a gun; with the attitude of being judge, jury and executioner. These partners are pitted against each other; where does the trust begin or end? If Gooding ever played a character you can't like...this is it. Foul language is strong and prevalent. Violence is strong. Others in the cast: Wyclef Jean, Aimee Garcia, Keith David and Cole Hauser. DIRTY is rated a strong R.