Review of Training Day (2001) by Matt S — 19 Apr 2011

In Los Angeles the streets are swarming with drug dealers. L.A.P.D. detective Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington) has the job of cleaning up those streets, but he does this with questionable methods. Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) has wanted to be a Narcotics officer, but in order to be accpeted he must go through 24 hours of training with a veteran officer, this being Harris. Jake soon finds that this job might not be for him as Harris' methods continue to get worse as the day goes on, and now Jake must struggle to find a way through this one training day.

Well, before I saw training Day I honestly can say I wasn't expecting too much, but after it was over there was no doubt that this film did not live up to its potential. It actually had a somewhat creative plot, it at least wasn't your basic police drama. My biggest initial issue with the film was the fact that it is directed by Antoine Fuqua. I have only two of his films, Shooter and King Arthur. Shooter was okay and King Arthur made me never want to watch another one of his films again. But surprisingly enough his direction in Training Day is not terrible. There definitely were some useless scenes thrown in there, and there was not very much character development, which is something I really hate not to see in films. After all, if the characters are not developed then the audience does not actually feel for them, and if the audience does not feel for them it hardly matters what happens in the end. This was the case here, and to make it worse the ending was a huge disappointment. If Antoine Fuqua did something right it was that he did at least make a somewhat thrilling film that keeps the audience interested. It looked as if Training Day was going to be a very good police drama that overcame its flaws, and even though it does, the ending really hurt the film. Like I said, Antoine Fuqua can, and has done a lot worse with his direction, but he had serious potential to bring home a great film here, and he didn't.

David Ayer was the screenwriter, another one I like to stay away from. All he seems to ever write are your basic mindless action films, and since the average movie goer often finds such great entertainment in those films, while I do not, they really just get on me nerves. Nowadays I will do my absolute best to stay away from action films, unless they come highly recommended. And even though this film is a large improvement from your average action flick, Ayer still did not have a very good screenplay. The dialogue was pretty bad, Denzel Washington's character had many cheesy lines, and Ethan Hawke's the same. Just your average annoying action flick.

But what set Training Day apart from most action movies? The acting, which is obvious. Before recently seeing this film I thought Russell Crowe was robbed from his deserving Oscar for his performance in A Beautiful Mind. However, after I saw this I can admit that I was very wrong. The Academy has had its goofs over the years, but this certainly was not one of them. Denzel Washington has always been a good actor, not one of my favorites because he always acts the exact same in every film, but there is no denying he has a gift in acting. However, from what I have seen I think this is his best performance. He played the part of the questionable and corrupt detective perfectly. And even as I have already expressed my displeasure with the ending, his acting in the climax was unbelievable. I really cannot say enough about his acting, except that even with the films many, many flaws, the acting saved it. I am by no means an Ethan Hawke. He has played in some excellent films, but for the most part him as an actor I don't really care for. That is, except for this film. His innocence was completely believable, and his character was perhaps the most believable out of the group. He was in every way deserving of his supporting actor nomination at the Oscars.

Overall, Training Day is not like your average police drama, which should at least count for something. But its sloppy direction and not so great screenplay really hurt it by the end. I will admit despite the flaws it is certainly an at times thrilling, yet brutal film. Everything is shot very well, and it has a nice musical score to help it out. The acting was absolutely incredible. Denzel Washington gives a career performance (from what I have seen) and her definitely comes through playing the bad cop. Ethan Hawke is a fine surprise in this film, as he gives his best performance that I have seen. The largest downfall is as I have mentioned the ending, but if you can get past it the film is good. I would recommend it to action films fans, and everyone else watch it for the acting.