Review of Training Day (2001) by Charlie L — 16 Aug 2016

What makes a good movie villain? An intimidating presence certainly helps, as does a solid motivation for their devious deeds. Perhaps they're seeking revenge for a past event in their life. Maybe they're hungry for power, and will stop at nothing to become supreme. Or maybe their just anarchists, plain and simple. But, most of all, a good villain is one that's believable, and one that anyone could become under certain circumstances.

Such is the distinguishing quality of Alonzo Harris, the main antagonist of Antoine Fuqua's Training Day. The complex relationship between Alonzo and Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) highlights why Alonzo is so utterly terrifying: Alonzo's actions constantly jump from being understandable in this grimy Los Angeles environment to being pushed beyond the line of morality. As Hoyt jumps from trusting Alonzo to not trusting him, we do the same. How can we side with someone profiting off of innocents, often with no regard to their lives? But he's a family man and an established cop: surely he's trustworthy. It's quite a fascinating dynamic that writer David Ayer has crafted up here.

Of course, it helps that such a complex character has a talented actor like Denzel Washington behind him. In an Oscar winning performance, Washington goes full-on antagonist, a kind of performance we rarely see from him, and a quality that makes the character dynamic that much more effective. Perhaps he camps it up at times, but Washington's charisma is too infectious to be bothered by any campiness. Alongside him is one of the finest performances from Ethan Hawke. Hawke really sells the struggle of the rookie cop in over his head, and his transformation from rookie to hardened cop is a fantastic showcase for his acting chops.

Behind the camera, Antoine Fuqua directs with an appropriate amount of grit and unrelenting tension. Every scene is wound like a guitar string: with nobody to truly trust, you're left with an increasing heart rate as you prepare for the inevitable snap. It's rare for a film to go from zero to sixty so quickly and keep that pace consistent throughout a two hour runtime, but Fuqua does it with impeccable ease. A quintessential crime thriller.