RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Found a Bug? Squash It! Report Bugs Here
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Training Day
Training Day

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Training Day (2001)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
72 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

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.

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
1 - 5 of 9

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Reviews for Training Day

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
81 - 100 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Dares to be a cop movie based on character and not on pyrotechnics.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
10/05/01
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

It's partly down to David Ayer’s smart, shades-of-gray script and partly down to the gusto with which Washington approaches this aggressively against-type role that Training Day achieves its brilliance.

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
10/05/01
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

Unquestionably convincing, disturbingly realistic, and unflinchingly honest.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
10/05/01
Blake French
Blake French
Filmcritic.com

Washington's performance is so good, in fact, that it may temporarily blind you from seeing that the movie has obscured its message.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
10/05/01
Sean Means
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune

A taut, high-velocity film.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
10/05/01
Megan Rosenfeld
Megan Rosenfeld
Washington Post

In the end is less than fully satisfying.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
10/05/01
Michael O'Sullivan
Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post

A taut -- if violent -- police thriller.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
10/05/01
Ken Fox
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide

As impersonated by the evangelically thunderous Washington -- who no longer acts with other performers, he acts at them -- Alonzo feels about as 'street' as a Beverly Hills ghetto.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
10/05/01
Geoff Pevere
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star

Training Day has been made with style and confidence, but it doesn't know whose side it's on.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
10/05/01
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Giving Alonso a melodramatic secret -- a reason for this particular behavior on this particular day -- trivializes the whole exercise.

Full Review Source: Slate | comment Comment
10/05/01
David Edelstein
David Edelstein
Slate

While Training Day is a violent film, its brutality takes place in a believable moral universe and isn't just tossed in to give us a thrill.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
10/05/01
Moira MacDonald
Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times

The film works a bit better as a vehicle for Washington, and it often gets by on his devilish charm. But it loses all its punch as he becomes more hissable.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
10/05/01
William Arnold
William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Not without its flaws but nevertheless still rather good.

Full Review Source: Screen It! | comment Comment
10/05/01
Jim Judy
Jim Judy
Screen It!

This movie is so racist that it's almost possible to overlook the wholesale misogyny.

Full Review Source: San Jose Mercury News | comment Comment
10/05/01
Glenn Lovell
Glenn Lovell
San Jose Mercury News

Washington plays Alonzo like a con man with a one-two punch ... It's tour-de-force acting.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
10/05/01
Bob Graham
Bob Graham
San Francisco Chronicle

A pinball machine of sustained tension, Washington textures his character brilliantly and surpasses Popeye Doyle's brazen effrontery.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
10/05/01
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

It's ugly and disturbing, but what gets us through it and pulls us along is Washington's charisma, which he gleefully uses in a darkly seductive way here.

Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | comment Comment
10/05/01
Joe Baltake
Joe Baltake
Sacramento Bee

Having seen everything come together so beautifully, it almost physically hurts to watch Training Day collapse into a pile of cop-movie tropes during the last 15 minutes.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
10/05/01
Tor Thorsen
Tor Thorsen
Reel.com

The movie is headed for a long, brutal and bloody payoff, one that may be too over-the-top for public consumption right about now.

Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly | comment Comment
10/05/01
Philip Booth
Philip Booth
Orlando Weekly

When Denzel gets going, however, he sure does go!

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
10/05/01
Jay Boyar
Jay Boyar
Orlando Sentinel
 
 
81 - 100 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
all

Latest News for Training Day

July 02, 2008: Total Recall: RT Celebrates the Bill of Rights
We the people of Rotten Tomatoes, in order to make this Independence Day more perfect, do ordain and establish this Total Recall as a cinematic tribute to the Bill of Rights. More...

April 09, 2008: Total Recall: The 10 Most Corrupt Cops in Movies
In honor of David Ayer's Street Kings we did a little bad-to-worse survey of the boys who soil their blue. Some of them are hot, some of them caustic, but all of them are... More...

December 07, 2007: The Weekly Ketchup: Dark Knight Pics And First Poster, X-Files 2 Plot Leaked?
In this week's Ketchup, the Dark Knight engine continues to churn out bits and pieces, as some new stills and the first official poster hit the web, and some possible X-Files 2... More...

March 22, 2007: Box Office Guru Preview: Six New Films Try to Shoot Down Spartans From #1 Spot
A half-dozen new soldiers enter the marketplace this weekend trying to topple the kingdom of "300" which has reigned supreme at the box office for the past two weeks. More...

See All

More DVDs

Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
14% 14% The Ugly Truth
98% 98% Up
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

5 facts straight from the cast.

Disney Animation

Disney Animation

We chart the studio's classics.

Avatar

Avatar

An exclusive look at the human hardware.

Eric Bana

Eric Bana

The Star Trek star talks cars with RT.

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Weekly Ketchup: Zombieland 2 in 3D?
18
  • First Look (Sort Of) at New Nightmare's Freddy Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com
24
  • First Look at Shrek Forever After Source: USA Today
48
  • Woody Harrelson Will Battle Zombies in 3-D Source: Moviehole
26
  • Natalie Portman Says Kat Denning Is in Thor Source: MTV
34
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
10
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
126
  • Idris Elba Joins Thor Source: Hollywood Reporter
112
  • Jackass 3D Coming in 2010? Source: Collider.com
32
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: New Moon Shatters Records
181
  • Total Recall: John Travolta's Best Movies
90
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
63
  • Ban Them All! 10 Infamously Controversial Movies
63
  • 5 Facts About The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
62
  • Critics Consensus: Flee From Ninja Assassin
44
  • Friday Harvest: The Road, Avatar, and more!
38
  • Five Favorite Films With Zombieland Director Ruben Fleischer
22
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
16
  • Weekly Ketchup: Zombieland 2 in 3D?
6
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
16
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
11
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
21
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
21
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Training Day at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Training Day at IGN
  • Training Day at AskMen

Fresh Links

Featured
RT on YouTube
RT on YouTube External Link

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

RT on Twitter
RT on Twitter External Link

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.