| Training Day |
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| Rating: Good Distributor: Warner Brothers U.S. Release Date: October 5th, 2001 Running Length: 2 hours MPAA Rating: R Genre: Drama, Police Drama Director: Antoine Fuqua Cast: Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, and Scott Glenn. |
| Plot: A young Los Angeles police officer (Ethan Hawke) has one day to prove he is prepared for a undercover police team, a chance to further his career. This police officer, Jake, is an idealist, but his ambitions seemed to cloud his judgment. Alonzo (Denzel Washington) is an experienced police officer who trains Jake for a day. Jake soon discovers that Alonzo is a very corrupt police officer, and a man of no morals. Alonzo rationalizes everything he does for Jake, even his most detestable actions. Consequently, Jake sticks with Alonzo throughout the day until he can no longer bare the burden of playing whitness to Alonzo's corrupt actions. |
| Critique: Training Day is a taut police drama that asks tough questions, even if its denouement is poorly conceived. Denzel Washington delivers one of the best male performances of the year in his energized, forceful villian. Ethan Hawke is strong too as the misguided young police officer. The film is well directed by Antoine Fuqua, who creates a kinetic film, and elicits an uneasy feeling in the viewer. This combination results in entertaining film that also has depth. Nonetheless, the film does become hard to swallow as shocking events begin to add up too fast. Additionally the climax of the film takes the easy route and is sloppy and trite. Nonetheless, the bulk of the film is so charged and fascinating that its mistakes do not completely ruin the experience. The decision of the filmmakers to have the film take place in one day is both good and bad. Because the film takes place in one day the kinetic scenes have an additive effect, and this increases the intensity of the picture. However, as a consequence of having the film take place in one day, character development suffers some. Additionally, the result is a motion picture that is very difficult to believe. It appears that too many things are happening in one day for the audience to digest the story. Perhaps the conclusion would not be so ridiculous if the storyline had been expanded over a period of time. Training Day is an effective, charged police drama, with an amazing performance by Denzel Washington. Antoine Fuqua's direction is also stellar. I highly recommend Training Day, a fascinating drama. review by supernothingman |
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