Training Day ««
R, 120m. 2001
Cast & Credits: Denzel Washington (Sgt. Alonzo Harris), Ethan Hawke (Officer Jake Hoyt), Scott Glenn (Roger), Tom Berenger (Stan Gursky), Harris Yulin (Doug Rosselli), Lou Jacobs (Raymond J. Barry), Cliff Curtis (Smiley), Dr. Dre (Paul), Snoop Dogg (Blue). Screenplay by David Ayer. Directed by Antoine Fuqua.
I equated my desire to see Training Day the way Ethan Hawke’s Officer Jake Hoyt looked forward to his first day on the job working in narcotics alongside his supervisor, Sgt. Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington).
My desire to see the film stemmed from hearing that Oscar winner Denzel Washington gives a riveting, over-the-top performance as a corrupt narcotics cop. There is no argument here. His role is a complete departure from his past roles as the Muslim leader in Malcolm X (1992), a Woodward/Bernstein type reporter in The Pelican Brief (1993), and the high school coach in charge of a racially divided football team in Remember the Titans (2000).
Washington wasn’t lying when he told interviewers he plays a real bad guy in Training Day. His performance alone is enough to make the film worth watching. But is the movie, as a whole, any good?
I did not like Training Day the first time I saw it. The story dissolves into complete predictability after a humorous, often riveting, first half-hour. Nevertheless, Washington steals the show.
Harris flirts with Officer Hoyt’s wife in the film’s opening moments in a phone conversation we never hear, but can tell what is being said. We hear an immediate click of the receiver on the other end though the minute Hoyt attempts to thank Harris for giving him the chance to work in the narcotics division.
You could call Washington’s character, “The Man In Black” since that is all he wears throughout the film. I had to wonder, since the picture takes in place in gang-ridden L.A. and the temperature had to be in the 80s or higher, how Harris could manage to keep cool underneath all those dark clothes. His office is not the desk at the local station house, but a black Monte Carlo, which can be transformed into a low rider with the flip of a switch.
A few people I know who did like Training Day complained I was being too overly critical and that I should award the film a higher rating just for Washington’s performance alone. Well, I did not like Ali (2001), despite Will Smith’s Oscar nominated performance either. Should I give Ali a higher rating than what it truly deserves just because Smith, like Washington in this movie, steals the show?
Regardless, I decided to give the film a second chance. I still didn’t like it. In fact, I didn’t even finish watching it. I started skipping scenes at the ninety-minute mark just so I could get to the less than surprising climax.
Therein lies the film’s problem. After that gripping first half hour, the minute Harris forces Hoyt at gunpoint to take some bad PCP, I knew this movie could go a number of ways.
One, have Hoyt, the good cop, report Harris to internal affairs, which in turn, would raise a big stink within the department. Two, there would be a showdown between the good and bad cop, or three, the bad guy is going to get what’s coming to him. I was right on two of those predictions.
Working alongside Harris is like working with the devil. He tells Hoyt if he gives him the next 18 months of his life in the narcotics division, Harris will make sure the rookie graduates to detective.
That means, though, Hoyt cannot follow the rules he learned at the police academy. Working the streets with Harris means double crossing a friend and local drug dealer (Scott Glenn), beating the living crap out of a couple of rapists and taking their money instead of turning them in, and ripping off the Russian mob.
Washington’s standout performance reveals one major problem. He gives us a character we have no reason to like. The guy is a corrupt slime ball who acts like he is your friend. Even the vilest of villains I have watched grace the screen in the past like Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy and his role as drug czar Tony Montana in Scarface (1983) had their vulnerable points which allowed me to have a small miniscule amount of sympathy for the two characters.
I felt no sympathy for Harris near the end. He brought his impending doom on himself. Frankly, I felt like cheering when Hoyt starts punching him out near the end.
When it was over, I came to the conclusion that Training Day was as much a predictable movie as it was the worst first day on the job that Officer Hoyt had been on.
©3/27/02
R, 120m. 2001
Cast & Credits: Denzel Washington (Sgt. Alonzo Harris), Ethan Hawke (Officer Jake Hoyt), Scott Glenn (Roger), Tom Berenger (Stan Gursky), Harris Yulin (Doug Rosselli), Lou Jacobs (Raymond J. Barry), Cliff Curtis (Smiley), Dr. Dre (Paul), Snoop Dogg (Blue). Screenplay by David Ayer. Directed by Antoine Fuqua.
My desire to see the film stemmed from hearing that Oscar winner Denzel Washington gives a riveting, over-the-top performance as a corrupt narcotics cop. There is no argument here. His role is a complete departure from his past roles as the Muslim leader in Malcolm X (1992), a Woodward/Bernstein type reporter in The Pelican Brief (1993), and the high school coach in charge of a racially divided football team in Remember the Titans (2000).
Washington wasn’t lying when he told interviewers he plays a real bad guy in Training Day. His performance alone is enough to make the film worth watching. But is the movie, as a whole, any good?
I did not like Training Day the first time I saw it. The story dissolves into complete predictability after a humorous, often riveting, first half-hour. Nevertheless, Washington steals the show.
Harris flirts with Officer Hoyt’s wife in the film’s opening moments in a phone conversation we never hear, but can tell what is being said. We hear an immediate click of the receiver on the other end though the minute Hoyt attempts to thank Harris for giving him the chance to work in the narcotics division.
You could call Washington’s character, “The Man In Black” since that is all he wears throughout the film. I had to wonder, since the picture takes in place in gang-ridden L.A. and the temperature had to be in the 80s or higher, how Harris could manage to keep cool underneath all those dark clothes. His office is not the desk at the local station house, but a black Monte Carlo, which can be transformed into a low rider with the flip of a switch.
A few people I know who did like Training Day complained I was being too overly critical and that I should award the film a higher rating just for Washington’s performance alone. Well, I did not like Ali (2001), despite Will Smith’s Oscar nominated performance either. Should I give Ali a higher rating than what it truly deserves just because Smith, like Washington in this movie, steals the show?
Regardless, I decided to give the film a second chance. I still didn’t like it. In fact, I didn’t even finish watching it. I started skipping scenes at the ninety-minute mark just so I could get to the less than surprising climax.
Therein lies the film’s problem. After that gripping first half hour, the minute Harris forces Hoyt at gunpoint to take some bad PCP, I knew this movie could go a number of ways.
One, have Hoyt, the good cop, report Harris to internal affairs, which in turn, would raise a big stink within the department. Two, there would be a showdown between the good and bad cop, or three, the bad guy is going to get what’s coming to him. I was right on two of those predictions.
Working alongside Harris is like working with the devil. He tells Hoyt if he gives him the next 18 months of his life in the narcotics division, Harris will make sure the rookie graduates to detective.
That means, though, Hoyt cannot follow the rules he learned at the police academy. Working the streets with Harris means double crossing a friend and local drug dealer (Scott Glenn), beating the living crap out of a couple of rapists and taking their money instead of turning them in, and ripping off the Russian mob.
Washington’s standout performance reveals one major problem. He gives us a character we have no reason to like. The guy is a corrupt slime ball who acts like he is your friend. Even the vilest of villains I have watched grace the screen in the past like Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy and his role as drug czar Tony Montana in Scarface (1983) had their vulnerable points which allowed me to have a small miniscule amount of sympathy for the two characters.
I felt no sympathy for Harris near the end. He brought his impending doom on himself. Frankly, I felt like cheering when Hoyt starts punching him out near the end.
When it was over, I came to the conclusion that Training Day was as much a predictable movie as it was the worst first day on the job that Officer Hoyt had been on.
©3/27/02
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