There is a scene in Training Day where the rookie cop, played by Ethan Hawke, is hallucinating after smoking some pot laced with PCP. As he looks at his partner driving the car, the cinematography and the lighting give the illusion that he is looking at the devil himself. And maybe he is!
His partner is Narcotics Detective Alonzo Harris, played by Denzel Washington in an over the top, exhilarating performance. After a career spent playing moral, honorable, noble, self-righteous and principled men, Washington is able to cut loose in a part that is pure bad ass. Alonzo Harris is the meanest, dirtiest cop on the street. He owns the streets. He is part of a system of corruption that believes you have to pay for everything, and the best justice is street justice. But he is also seductive. He has sound reasons for everything he does, and makes it all seem plausible and acceptable behavior for an undercover officer.
Hawke is police officer Jake Hoyt. He is applying to become part of an elite under cover narcotics team. He has one day to work with Detective Harris to see if he can past muster. As the day passes Hoyt is put into one unethical situation after another. It seems Harris is a crooked cop right down to his shoes. Or is he? Are these really challenges to see what he will do? How much of what Harris is doing is for real and how much is for show? Hoyt learns the answers when Harris gathers his team of cops to serve a warrant on the house of a drug peddler. Hoyt finds out exactly what kind of cop Alonzo is. The question is what does he do next?
Denzel Washington won an Best Actor Oscar for his performance in Training Day, and it was well deserved. Even though he is on the screen more than Washington, Hawke was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role (he lost to Jim Broadbent). The movie also features Scott Glenn in a key role, along with Eva Mendes, Tom Berenger, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog.
The movie has an authenticity about it that was captured by filming on location in some of Los Angeles gang neighbor hoods, including the Imperial Court housing project.
A film like this could have easily given way to gratuitous violence and director Antoine Fuqua should be lauded for the amount of control he executes in allowing the story to drive the narrative and not just fill it with senseless gun battles. At two hours the film flies by. The last 30 minutes go from one harrowing situation to another.
Training Day is a brutal, fast paced, gritty crime drama that's worth watching just to see the great performances by Washington and Hawke.
At The Movie House rating ***1/2 stars
1 comment:
Mr. Movie is on a roll, continuing with his series of masterful reviews...What i liked most about this review was the fact that it was dead on accurate and on top of it, you held off that little bit to give the movie a 3.5 nod rather than 4 stars...this movie is very good but not great, and that is why the 3.5 is in order...I think the problem with it is that it is a tad over the top, which oyu brought out in oyur review...Washington is such a bad cop and evil dude, that it is a bit much...but, that is the basis of the movie so I was happy to go along with it...Well done...Now, go see The Book of Eli and try and imagine a battle between these two divergent Denzel characters...what a battle it would be
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