A brutal, fierce, and tense police thriller, Training Day takes a well-worn format and infuses it with freshness and verve.
Training Day (2001)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:152
Fresh:109
Rotten:43
Average Rating:6.5/10
Consensus: The ending may be less than satisfying, but Denzel Washington reminds us why he's such a great actor in this taut and brutal police drama.
Runtime: 2 hrs 2 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: Every day, there is a war being waged on America’s inner city streets – a war between residents, drug dealers and the people sworn to protect one from the other. This war has its casualties, none... Every day, there is a war being waged on America’s inner city streets – a war between residents, drug dealers and the people sworn to protect one from the other. This war has its casualties, none greater than L.A.P.D. Detective Sergeant Alonzo Harris (DENZEL WASHINGTON), a 13-year veteran narcotics officer whose questionable methodology blurs the line between legality and corruption. His optimism has long since been chipped away by his tour of duty in the streets, where fighting crime by the book can get you killed, and getting the job done often requires Alonzo and his colleagues to break the laws they are empowered to enforce. A gritty, realistic drama set in the morally ambiguous world of undercover police investigation, Training Day shadows Alonzo as he tests the resolve of idealistic rookie Jake Hoyt (ETHAN HAWKE), who has one day and one day only to prove himself to his fiercely charismatic superior. Over the next 24 hours, Jake will be pulled deeper and deeper into the ethical mire of Alonzo’s logic as both men put their lives and careers on the line to serve their conflicting notions of justice. Training Day is a blistering action drama that asks the audience to decide what is necessary, what is heroic and what crosses the line in the harrowing gray zone of fighting urban crime. Does law-abiding law enforcement come at the expense of justice and public safety? If so, do we demand safe streets at any cost? Or do we risk our security by insisting that those empowered to protect us do so within the boundaries of the law? At a time when police across the nation are battling a public image of rampant corruption, narcotics use, planting evidence and excess brutality while patrolling the meanest streets of America, Training Day paints a gripping and realistic portrait of the war taking place on the urban front lines – and just how high the costs of this battle can be. -- © Warner Bros. [More]
Starring: Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Scott Glenn, Tom Berenger
Starring: Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Scott Glenn, Tom Berenger, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Eva Mendes, Dr. Dre, Raymond J. Barry, Will Foster Stewart, Harris Yulin, Macy Gray
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Screenwriter: David Ayer
Producer: Jeffrey Silver, Robert Newmyer
Composer: Mark Mancina
Studio: Warner Bros.
Reviews for Training Day
Marred slightly by an unsatisfactory climax, this is a cracking cop drama anchored by great performances and intelligent direction from Fuqua.
Good to see Denzel Washington get the meaty villainous role he deserves.
The movie moves rapidly, is extremely violent and not entirely plausible.
There's an edgy, authentic rhythm to this gritty undercover cop drama that's boosted by strong performances ... and then undermined by an appalling ending.
Director Fuqua keeps it slick and sleazy and stokes up the race some, but this only accelerates the movie's deafening rush toward the top and ever over.
Trashy cop-thriller entertainment of the highest quality: well-made and superbly acted, with Washington in line for a possible Oscar nomination.
Washington is one of those rare artists who can, seemingly, transform his soul.
Rather than challenging us to draw the line between good and evil for ourselves, Training Day does it for us, ruining the film’s main source of tension.
Denzel gives a blisteringly brilliant performance in this good cop/bad cop drama.
A razor-wire-taut (and extremely violent) exploration of what happens when good guys go bad, badder, baddest.
Even when it falls back excessively on coincidence and contrived set pieces, even when it gushes irretrievably over the top in its final act, Washington makes Training Day sizzle.
In a film that introduces such potentially powerful situations, its level of predictability and its misuse of its talented cast is simply disappointing.
Denzel Washington delivers his best work as a rogue cop on the streets.
If he makes it through the trial by fire -- and a blandly twisting plot with no meaningful revelations or substantial themes -- Hawke will get a promotion, but there's nothing in it for us.
For its kinetic energy and acting zeal, I enjoyed the movie. I like it when actors go for broke.
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