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All Movie Info
Directed By
Antoine Fuqua
Written By:
David Ayer
Cast:
Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Scott Glenn, Cliff Curtis, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tom Berenger, Harris Yulin, Raymond J. Barry, Charlotte Ayanna, Macy Gray, Eva Mendez, Nicholas Chinlund, Jaime Gomez, Raymond Cruz, Noel Gugliemi
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Training Day (2001)
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Movie Review by Jarrod 
July 17th, 2007
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'Training Day' is a movie that explores the depths of police corruption, from the perspectives of the proverbial good and bad cops, the latter, Alonzo Harris, played by Denzel Washington in a simmering, Oscar-winning performance, the former, Jake Hoyt (Hawke), his white trainee, who believes in virtue and playing by the rules, and expresses noticeable horror and concern at Alonzo's rough, unorthodox ways, as he shoves his gun in people's faces, intimidating and bullying them, physically assaulting them, all methods he believes must be used to confront the harsh reality of the streets, and the dangerous business of narcotics. Alonzo collects graft, and samples much of the stuff he confiscates from local dealers, he has contacts in all the rough neighborhoods, and meets with a trio of his superiors, who arrange payoffs and even offer protection for one another when the situation gets sticky. Jake believes, initially, as do we, that Alonzo is committed to fighting crime, and that his extreme behavior may all be a ruse, a way to test the rookie, to teach him the skills he needs to survive in a hostile and threatening world. Alonzo is very persuasive in his attempts to explain why he acts the way he does, and even why he walks into a woman's house with a fake search warrant, to steal money from her bedroom, and later even killing one of his own wretched acquaintances, Roger (Scott Glenn), who has a chest with millions of dollars under his kitchen floor. But, his explanations only go so far, and Jake eventually realizes just how dirty Alonzo is. The issue of police brutality is a sensitive one. Cops are heroes, to be sure, as are firemen, but there are indeed those who misuse their authority.
The Rodney King incident in the early 90s certainly proved this, as have other similar events in more recent times. Typically, these cops are white, and their victims are black. Here, the roles are reversed. There is nobody in the LAPD who can claim a record quite like Alonzo's, and Jake remains pure and idealistic right up to the end, when, in the last 20 minutes or so, stupid decisions are made, and Alonzo morphs into the kind of villain he never should have become, though his ultimate fate is quite fitting. In all of this, Washington is superb, eschewing his usually likable persona, and creating a brutal and nasty character, with sinister charm and ferocious charisma. Hawke is not be underestimated, his role is crucial, as the moral counter to Alonzo, and he holds his own in every scene. 'Training Day' is a gritty and violent urban drama, ultimately rewarding despite its weak and disappointing conclusion.
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