Training Day (2001)

Outstanding corrupt cop drama

The ending was a bit of overkill. That could be said. And the mano-a-mano fight before the ending was a bit drawn out. That too could be said. But the rest of the film was more than excellent.

"Training Day" is the best of the bad cop dramas that I have seen, and I've seen a few. Both Denzel Washington as the psychopathic bad cop, Alonzo, and Ethan Hawke as the idealistic rookie, Jake, were full out. Denzel Washington won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance, and Ethan Hawke was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. The direction by Antoine Fuqua was superb. The LA street scenes and milieu were as real and vivid as my old buddy Taco Bender. (And trust me, Taco Bender was very real.) The extras in the crowd scenes should get some kind of prize for macho scary. I've been there, and I still have a few nightmares. There are some streets in LA you don't want to walk down unless you are a homey, or a brother, and some other streets you don't want to walk down, period.

Unlike some cop dramas and shoot `em up thrillers, this one was carefully planned, so that the scene in the barrio at the card table, the rook all alone set up for the kill, came across as real because what had happened before was just about the only thing in the world that could have saved him. The LA atmosphere was like a rush, as stunningly authentic in a different way as, say, that in Chinatown (1974) or LA Confidential (1997), but more contemporary.

I wonder how many guys starting in say the sixties or maybe a little before have experienced the kind of initiation that Jake experiences in terms of being fed some dope never before tasted and then "led" on the "trip" by someone wanting to exploit them. Most of the time, for most guys it was an initiation into something other worldly, scary, but something that was only psychological and would be gone the next day. For Jake it was a matter of, first, his livelihood as an idealistic cop, and second a matter of groking to a paranoid view of the world in which the good guys are the bad guys and everything is hopelessly corrupt and there is no good, only evil--and you just found out. And third, a matter of life and death with either acid and grass running all around your brain or maybe PCP and speed, and some suddenly obviously evil person (as Washington so well depicted) giving you the kind of "guidance" you can't refuse. And then finally it is beyond life and death and only a matter of primeval justice and a revenge you must perform.

Look for Snoop Dogg in a wheelchair and Dr. Dre as one of Alonzo's posse cops.
July 5, 2008

Good Stuff

Well , it was a great movie, the quality seems perfect and i enjoy getting dvd or whatever from Amazon . I will shop here more. i shop on here more than i do @ phyisal locations . for dvd's & games April 29, 2008

Great Blu-Ray Picture Image, Story Not So Great

Enjoyed the quality of our first Blue Ray HD movie. Didn't care much for the story line -- a little too violent and weird, especially for a Denzel Washington movie. Yes, it said he didn't play a good buy in this one, but even forewarned, thought it was over the top. April 19, 2008

Outstanding Movie Just Got Even Better on Blu-Ray

Although we are used to seeing Denzel cast in heroic "good guy" roles, his portrayal of a corrupt narcotics officer brings forth one of his finest acting performances. As many other reviewers have already stated quite well, the chemistry between Denzel and Ethan Hawk who plays a "Newbie" cop trying to make it into the unit run by Alonzo Harris (Denzel's character) is captivating from the start of the day when the two meet over breakfast.

Being one of my favorite movies, when I saw it had been released on Blu-Ray, I had to buy it again. I am very glad that I did. The Blu-Ray version gives an added dimension to Antoine Fuqua's views of LA's streets, and brings them to life as if you are ridding with them in Denzel's Malibu - as he says "You're in the office, baby." Blu-ray brings the environments into focus with as much passion and detail as Antoine put into his directing - you can almost smell the rain-soaked streets and feel the pulse of the city. If you'd like to experience a "real-life, close-up tour of LA" as you watch a truly deserving Academy Award winning film, I recommend you buy the Blu-Ray version - it will not disapoint. April 16, 2008

Denzel says the "N" word to much!

Really good story and some of it may be true. Mostly in Chicago!

I don't like the fact the Denzel was "made" to use the "N" word all though the movie. We just had a woman in town that got fined $75.00 for calling children hanging from a tree, monkeys! Yep, they were black children and the mother got angry. However these "movie stars" use those and worse for the sake of a few dollars. April 9, 2008

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