OK, its post revisitation time yet again! So, the post I have chosen to take another look, which I did 5 years ago on this blog (its been that long?!) is the crime thriller, Training Day starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke.
So, after 17 years how does Training Day still fair??? Well, let's take another look...
And yes the usual warning is coming up...
PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
STORY
So the film begins with rookie cop, Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) who is to be evaluated by a narcotics officer, Detective Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington). Alonzo is a highly decorated cop and he has a rather unorthodox way of doing things as Jake soon finds out after they carry out a drugs bust, they confiscate the drugs sold to some young kids, and Alonzo tells Jake to be an effective narcotics agent that he should smoke the marijuana. When Jake initially refuses, Alonzo points a gun at his head and tells him if he turned down a drug dealer he would be dead, which forces Jake to smoke it, only to later find out from Alonzo that it was laced with PCP. Along the way Alonzo pays a visit to a local drug dealer, Roger (Scott Glenn) who was a former police officer.
After they drive on, Jake soon after notices a young girl being sexually assaulted by two crackheads as they drive by an alley way, Jake runs out and stops the attackers. However Alonzo is not interested in reporting the crime as he believes justice is better served on the streets and to let the lowlifes just wipe each other out.
Later on Alonzo tries to follow the lead of another drug dealer called the Sandman, which eventually leads to the Sandman's house, but the dealer isn't there and Alonzo has to deal with the dealer's wife (Macy Gray) where he uses the excuse that he has a search warrant in order to search her apartment for drug money. Alonzo in the process steals money during the search and on leaving, the Sandman's wife realises she has been robbed and sets the local gangbangers on Alonzo and Jake, who barely make it out of there in one piece.
Alonzo later pays a visit to his Salvadoran mistress, Sara (Eva Mendes) and their young son. Afterwards Alonzo meets with a group of high ranking police officials, dubbed the "three wise men" (Tom Berenger, Harris Yulin and Raymond J.Barry) who agree to give him an arrest warrant in exchange for the drug money he stole from the Sandman's wife. This is because Alonzo owes a debt of 1 million dollars to the Russian mafia and he uses the arrest warrant to arrest Roger and seize the dealer's millions stashed underneath the floor of Roger's kitchen.
Alonzo along with Jake and a few other corrupt police officers take their share of the money, but Jake on moral grounds, refuses to take his. Alonzo tells Jake to shoot Roger, but Jake again refuses and Alonzo kills Roger himself, leaving Jake shocked and angry at being used by him, and he angrily takes the gun off Alonzo as the other officers get involved in a stand off, which is soon diffused by Alonzo.
After this Alonzo convinces Jake to go along with their story that as they entered Roger's house, Roger shot first and Jake killed Roger in defence, to which Jake reluctantly agrees to go along with. Later on Alonzo takes Jake out to another gang neighbourhood where he runs a personal errand for a gangster named Smiley (Cliff Curtis). However as Jake awkwardly plays cards with Smiley and his gang members, Jake soon realises that Alonzo has abandoned him and that he has payed off Smiley to kill Jake. And this is where Jake's problems really begin.....
THOUGHTS
Training day to this day is still a very effective crime drama and its funny how in the underworld of drugs that the cops are just as dirty as the dealers, something which is mirrored in Alonzo. And while the premise of police corruption is nothing new, the set up of the story being told over the space of one day helps keep Training Day fresh as a film. The film also works well mainly because of Alonzo's character as he is a charismatic cop who uses his pizzaz and smart talk to manipulate the naive and clean cut Jake into doing his dirty work. And its Alonzo's ability to use what Jake wants most and his ambition as a weapon against him when he needs to in order to see just how far Jake is willing to go.
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers and will have strong language!)
Which brings me onto the performances which are great all round.
So to start there is of course the film's star, Denzel Washington who is simply superb in his role as the charismatic and manipulative narcotics officer, Alonzo Harris, who toys with Jake and get's him to do what he wants (well to an extent). Washington himself won the Academy award for best actor and its easy to see why as it is easily one of his best performances and Washington has so many highlights in the film.
As for some of his best scene there is for starters his first scene where he meets with Jake while he tries to read his paper without interruption until Jake get's his attention and he tells Jake to tell him a story.
And Jake proceeds to tell Alonzo about an incident involving him and and a female assessment officer as they carried out a random drunk stop, and Alonzo listens and says "You mean to tell me that you were with a fine ass bitch for a year and the most entertaining story you can come up with is a drunk stop?!" and this leads to an awkward pause. Alonzo then breaks the pause and grins and says to Jake "But I think you tapped that ass, didn't you?!" but Jake insists "Hey man, I have a wife" and Alonzo bluntly says "Yeah and you have a dick! You have a dick, don't you?!" and Jake somewhat embarrassed says "Yeah". So, Alonzo then says to him "Right either side of the dick are pockets, like in either one of them and pay the bill!". And later on when they get in Alonzo's car, Jake asks him "Where is the office? Back at division?" and Alonzo smiles and says "You in the office baby!".
Another good scene is when after Alonzo and Jake do a drug bust and take some drugs from some young kids in a car, Alonzo insists that Jake smoke them. So, in the scene Alonzo says to Jake "To be truly effective, a good narcotics agent must know and love narcotics. In fact, a good narcotics agent should have narcotics in his blood!". Jake then asks "What are you gonna smoke that?" and Alonzo says "No, you are!" and Jake laughs nervously and says "Like hell I am!" and Alonzo asks him "What are you a mormon?! Are you a Jesus freak?".
However as Alonzo continues to push Jake to take a hit of the drugs, Jake refuses and Alonzo suddenly halts his car and points a gun to Jake's head. And Alonzo angrily tells Jake "Yeah, right. If I was a drug dealer, you'd be dead by now, motherfucker! You turn shit down on the streets, and the chief brings your wife a crisply folded flag! What the fuck's wrong with you?! You know what?! I don't want you in my unit. I don't even want you in my division. Get the fuck out the car. Go back to the Valley, rookie!". Jake after a beat however tells Alonzo to give him the drugs and he smokes it but coughs and splutters as he does and Alonzo laugh and says "Oh, virgin lungs! Man up, nigga! Man up! Take all that shit!" which Jake does and Alonzo laughs and says "Let's go, nigga, let's go!".
Then there is the scene where Alonzo parts his wisdom to Jake and he says "To protect the sheep, you need to become a wolf" and he makes some wolf noises and insists that Jake do the same, except he does his more like a rooster and Alonzo laughs saying "I said a wolf not a rooster!".
Another scene that stands out is where Alonzo along with Jake and some corrupt cops raid Roger's home and steal his drug money, which is 4 million dollars worth. So, in the scene Alonzo at first jokes with Jake to shoot Roger but get's serious as the scene goes on. So, in the scene Alonzo tells Jake "Shoot him" and Jake says "You want me too shoot him? OK, I'll shoot him" and he holds up his shotgun and pretends to and says "Pow!". However it soon becomes apparent that Jake won't shoot Roger, so Alonzo takes the shotgun instead and says "Hell, if you want something done you need to do it yourself!" and he shoots Roger in the chest much to Jake's horror and as Roger gasps his last breaths, Alonzo with a little sense of guilt says to him "Breath...breath dawg!" and after Roger dies, he says coldly "Yeah, he's finished!".
After this, Jake is shocked at Alonzo's drastic change in personality as Alonzo plans with the others what happened before the cops arrive and they insist that Jake shot Roger instead as they came in. However as Jake refuses to play ball, Alonzo turns on him with the shotgun aimed he says "A Los Angeles Police Department Narcotics officer was killed today serving a high-risk warrant in Echo Park. LAPD spokesperson says the officer is survived... by his wife and infant child. Shit gets deeper. You get the picture?!".
WARNING: BIG SPOILER IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!
Then there is the scene where Jake having been spared by Smiley after the gangster learns that Jake rescued his young cousin, who was attacked earlier, returns to Alonzo's mistress's apartment where he finds him counting his money. So, as Jake demands that Alonzo puts his money and guns into a pillow case, Alonzo tries to bluff Jake.
So, in the scene Alonzo applauds Jake and says "Congratulations son, you passed the test you're a narc put the gun down before you give my girl a heart attack!". Jake however isn't buying it and repeats his order for Alonzo to give up his money and weapons. So, Alonzo relents and says "Alright. So you're going to hook me and book me? You're the one that was smoking the dust, you're the one who ran out like a maniac and you're the one who shot Roger!". Alonzo then continues and says to Jake "You got one problem though, you got no witnesses, who are your fucking witnesses? Roger? Smiley? You think my troops are going to help you? What can you prove? Where's your evidence?!" and as Jake points to the pillow case and says "Its right there" Alonzo flicks his cigarette at Jake's face and the two of them get into a gunfight.
And last of all is the scene where the local gangbangers in the neighbourhood all gather round as Jake confronts Alonzo and stops him from his getaway and one of the gang, Bone, leaves a gun for Alonzo to pick up as he refuses to intervene. So, as Alonzo goads Jake to shoot him, Jake refuses to but as Alonzo goes for the gun, Jake shoots him in the ass and Alonzo groans in pain and says "You motherfucker! You shot me in the ass!". And as Jake leaves with Alonzo's money, Alonzo shouts after him "JAKE! I need my money! JAKE!". Alonzo then looks at the neighbourhood gang members with disgust and says to them "You disloyal bitch-ass fool made punk! OK! I'm putting cases on all you bitches! Shoe program, nigga! 23 hour lockdown! You don't own shit, I run this place, you just live here! King Kong ain't got shit on me!". However the gang members simply walk away from Alonzo in disgust as he is left on his own and he emotionally says to himself "What a day! What fuckin day!".
Ethan Hawke also provides a fine performance here as well as the clean cut rookie cop, who is pretty much Alonzo's opposite in every way and throughout the film he is pushed and manipulated by him until Jake can no longer tolerate it.
And Ethan his own share of good scenes in the film that include the one where Jake first meets Alonzo, who insists he tell him a story since Jake keeps interrupting Alonzo while he was reading his newspaper. So, Jake tells Alonzo a story involving a DUI (driving under the influence) and he says "It was a quiet night we were rolling on Van Nuys I'm driving this Acura comes out a side street all over the median in excess I light it up hit the whaler guy drives on like I'm invisible for ten blocks before he pulls over plates were unclean so I'm watching from our unit and she's tossing the Acura she calls me over to the vehicle a snub 38 two shotguns fully loaded so she calls our supervisor and I keep searching and I find five hundred grams of meth turns out this DUI is on bail for distribution and is on his way to smoke his ex-partner before trial so we prevented a murder". However Alonzo after pretending to be impressed then says who after being with his female officer for a year that the most entertaining story he can tell is a "drunk stop!".
Then there is the scene where Alonzo manipulates Jake into smoking the confiscated drugs they took earlier from some youngsters. So, as Jake begins to feel the effects of the drugs, Alonzo tells Jake what he took "Sherms. Dust. PCP. Primos. P-Dog. That's what you had. That's what you were smoking". So, Jake suddenly panics and says "Oh, shit! Oh, shit! I'm gonna get piss tested and I'm gonna get fired!". Jake then asks "Why did you do this to me?!" and Alonzo grins and says "Nobody told you to smoke that thing. You made the decision. Live with your decision. Ain't like I put a gun to your head".
Another good scene from Ethan is when Alonzo and Jake pay a visit to Roger with Jake still feeling the effects of the PCP. So, as Roger tells Jake a joke, Jake laughs at it and says "That's not funny! That's not funny at all!" and Alonzo laughs and "Then why are you laughing?!". So, Roger says to Jake "You figure that joke out, you'll figure out the streets". However, Jake then says "You know, I already figured them out. Its all about smiles and cries" and Alonzo mocks Jake and says "Put the drink down, man! Motherfucker's out his mind!". Roger however is intrigued and wants to hear Jake's theory, so Jake says "Yeah. You gotta control your smiles and cries, because that's all you have and nobody can take that away from you".
Then there is the scene where Alonzo and Jake along with four corrupt officers raid Roger's house and steal his drug money. So, in the scene Alonzo taunts Jake to shoot Roger but he refuses and at first Alonzo is jokey and Jake plays along and says "You want me to shoot him? I'll shoot him". So, he holds up the shotgun and aims it at Roger and pretends to fire and says "Pow!" and Roger says "Boom!". Alonzo, however then says more seriously "Shoot him" and Jake says "Naw, man" and Alonzo laughs and says "He ain't gonna shoot him!" and he then proceeds to shoot Roger himself, which causes Jake to jump and shout "OH, SHIT!!".
So, as Alonzo plans out what supposedly happened during the warrant search, which involves Jake supposedly shooting Roger on entry as Roger went for his gun, Alonzo says to Jake "Congratulations, son. You'll get a medal for this". Jake however looks at Alonzo and says "But I didn't shoot him, you did" so Alonzo turns on Jake and threatens him by saying how he could end up being a victim himself of the warrant as he suggests he could kill Jake and make look like he died in the line of duty. So, as Alonzo says to him "This shit get's deeper. You get the picture?" Jake says to him "Yeah, I get it!" and he grabs the shotgun off Alonzo and points it at him and he shouts "That's the second time you pointed a gun at me, there will NOT be a third!" which creates a stand-off between Jake and the other officers. However, Alonzo diffuses it and Jake relents but then turns to one of the cops, Paul (Dr Dre) who threatened to kill him and says "Hey, Paul" and he punches him and walks out.
WARNING: SPOILER COMING UP IN THE NEXT FEW PARAGRAPHS
Another good scene is when Alonzo and Jake go to Smiley's house and as Alonzo appears to have went to the bathroom, Smiley tells Jake to sit down and play some cards with him and his two gangbanger friends. So, one of Smiley's friends, Moreno (Noel Gugliemi) asks Jake "So, how long have you been a pig?" and he laughs and says "I'm sorry my bad! I mean long have you been a police officer?". So, Jake as he plays cards says "I've been a pig for 19 months!" and Moreno asks "You like it?" and Jake says "I should have been a fireman!".
However as Jake realises that Alonzo has abandoned him and left him for dead, he attacks Simley and he is beaten and dragged into a tub where Smiley points a double barrelled shotgun at him but before he does Jake, Moreno searches Jake's pockets and finds the diary belonging to the girl Jake rescued earlier.
So, Smiley looking at the diary looks confused and angrily asks Jake "Where did you get this?!" and Jake panicking lying down in the bathtub shouts "I found it! I found it!" and Smiley asks "Where?!" and Jake shouts "McArthur park! McArthur park!". So, Jake gasps as he explains to Smiley "Now, listen to me, that girl was being raped. I saw these two fuckin' drug addicts attacking her, and I stopped 'em...!". Smiley then jabs the shotgun against Jake's cheek and shouts "You lie to me!" and Jake shouts back "I'M NOT LYING!!! I swear to God. She was being raped, and I stopped 'em, man. And please man, I HAVE A LITTLE GIRL!!". However after Smiley calls his cousin, she verifies what happened and that Jake did rescue her, so Smiley relents and let's Jake go and says thanks for getting his cousin's back. Smiley then also says to Jake "You know this shit was just business, right?" and Jake looks at him and says "Right".
Then there is the scene where Jake fights with Alonzo on a rooftop and after Alonzo tries to escape in his car, Jake dives ontop of it and he causes Alonzo to crash his car. So with Alonzo reeling from the crash, Jake punches Alonzo and grabs his money bag and Alonzo begins to taunt Jake. So, in the scene Jake points his gun at Alonzo and says "Its no fun when the rabbit has the gun is it?!" and Alonzo wearily says "My nigga!".
So, as Alonzo tries to persuade the local gangbangers (who have gathered round at this point) to kill Jake for him for money, they don't react and Jake looks disgusted with him and says "They're not like you! You know what else I learned today? I'M not like you!". So, as Alonzo taunts Jake to shoot him, he puts on his police badge and as Alonzo says "Do it!" Jake does nothing, so Alonzo says "You can't do it!". However, after one of the gang, Bone puts down a gun for Alonzo to pick up, Alonzo goes for it but Jake shoots him in the ass and Jake warns him "The next one WILL kill you!". Jake then disgraces Alonzo further as he removes his badge from him and looks at Alonzo in disgust and says "You don't deserve this!" before he walks out of the neighbourhood with Alonzo's money.
In other performances, Scott Glenn is excellent as the drug dealer and ex-cop, Roger, and his scenes are pretty good, especially in his first scene where he tells a stupid joke to Jake, who laughs at it in a drug induced stupour and later on where Alonzo raids his house to seize his money.
And I will mention just one of Glenn's scenes where Alonzo and Jake pay Roger a visit and they have a drink. So, Roger tells Jake a joke "Here's a joke, boy. One day this man walks out of his house to go to work. He sees this snail on his porch. So he picks it up and chucks it over his roof, into the back yard. Snail bounces off a rock, cracks its shell all to shit, and lands in the grass. Snail lies there dying. But it doesn't die. It eats some grass. Slowly heals. Grows a new shell. And after a while it can crawl again. One day the snail up and heads back to the front of the house. Finally, after a year, the little guy crawls back on the porch. Right then, the man walks out to go to work and sees this snail again. So he says to it, "What the fuck's your problem?!". Jake then suddenly burst out laughing (still stoned from the PCP Alonzo gave him) and says "That's messed up. That's not funny!" and Alonzo asks him "Why are you laughin then?!" and Roger tells Jake "Figure that joke out and you'll figure out the streets".
Cliff Curtis is also excellent in his role as the gangster Smiley who is paid off to kill Jake, but unlike Alonzo, Smiley does have honour and he decides to spare Jake when he realises that he saved his young cousin. Curtis is also such a chaemeleonic character actor that there are times when you see him in a film you can scarcely believe it is him (although he is recognisible here!).
Curtis also get's some good lines of dialogue as Smiley, especially where he tells Jake about how Alonzo owes money to the Russian mafia and he says "Alonzo pulled off a miracle. Times are tight, he jacked up a lot of cash from Roger, he blasted the fool, that's why I never shake his hand he don't respect nada. You know what the money's for? Alonzo's a hot head, last week in Vegas some Russian starts talking shit, Alonzo just snaps beat that guy to death, turns out that Russian is a somebody, now his into the Russians for a million they gave him until tonight to pay up. his name is still on the list. Nobody thought he could get cash that quick, good thing he did because there's a crew on standby, if he doesn't turn up downtown with the money by midnight and not a minute after...your vato...he's dead!".
This is then followed by the scene where Smiley is about to execute Jake and he slaps him first and tells him "You're under arrest! For being a cop, dogging me in the mouth in my own pad. You got the right to be bitch-slapped!". So, as Jake is put into the bathtub, Moreno searches Jake's pockets and finds the diary belonging to Smiley's cousin, Letty. Smiley demands Jake to let him know where he got it and Jake explains he rescued a young girl from being raped by two crackheads.
So, Smiley angrily says to Jake "I'm gonna get to the bottom of your bullshit. She's my cousin, homes. Ain't right involving her. You fucked up. If you're lying to me...I'm gonna blow your fucking balls off!". However as Smiley calls up Letty he get's the truth from her and that Jake did rescue her, so Smiley hangs up and with surprise says to his two friends, Moreno and Sniper "Vato was telling the truth! Life's a trip, que no?!". So, Smiley lifts Jake out of the tub and places a towel around his bloodied head and says "That's for getting my cousin's back. Cover your head. You'll mess up my floor. You know this shit was just business, right?". And as Jake hesitates to answer, Smiley gives him a look as to say again "Right??" and Jake relents and says "Right".
As for the other cast members, there is the lovely Eva Mendes, who plays Alonzo's mistress, Sara, who is essentially a decent woman who tries to raise her young son in a rough neighbourhood. I won't really mention any of her dialogue as such as her role is quite a small one but she does well with the little material she is given to work with here.
However I will quickly mention the moment where Alonzo turns up at Sara's place with Jake and naturally she and Alonzo will be getting reacquainted. However before they do, Sara says to Jake "This is your home. You can watch any TV channel you like. I'll be right back" and a little later, Sara brings a tray of food to Jake. So, Sara tells Jake "Now, this is all El Salvadorian food" and Jake thanks her and Sara smiles and indicates to Alonzo who is out the room and she says "I have to go" and she leaves.
Harris Yulin is also really good in his small role as one of the three wise men, Detective Doug Roselli who tells a funny story how a criminal once went up in court and placed some peanut butter in a rathe sensitive place!
So, in the scene Doug tells the story to Alonzo "There's a serial burglar we're chasing him for twelve months, a real slickster and he gave up nothing. His sentencing was today so before the hearing he gets a hold of some peanut butter and he packs his ass crack with it, he's standing tall before the judge and he's ready to give a statement, he shoves his hand down his pants and it comes out with a glob of extra chunky Jiff, bailiffs won't come near him. Now he's looking at the judge in the eyes and licks his fingers clean!".
Tom Berenger also does well with his very brief role as another one of the three wise men, Stan Gursky, who warns Alonzo that he does not want to see him wind up dead as a result of his altercation with the Russia mafia. So, Stan says to Alonzo "Well, its your call. But I do not want to see you end up dead on TV like those other assholes!" (i.e. cops that have died in the line of duty).
Noel Gugliani next up is also very good in his role as Moreno, one of Smiley's gangster friends, who is there when Jake is abandoned by Alonzo and Moreno teases Jake throughout the scene while they play cards. And Noel has some good lines in the scene such as the one where he asks Jake "So, how long have you been a pig?" and he laughs and says "I'm sorry, my bad! I meant how long have you been a police officer?" and Jake answers "I've been a pig for 19 months!". And then Moreno teases Jake more as he wants to see his gun as Smiley shows Jake his own gun and Moreno says "See, I've already seen than one but I want to see yours. Come on, ese, I ain't gonna shoot nobody!".
So, Jake relents and takes out his gun and removes the clip and pings out a bullet from the chamber and hands it to Moreno, who holds the gun and says "Nice, you could fuck up a vato with this!". Moreno then jokingly holds the gun to Jake and says "You see what you do is hold it like that!" and after a beat, Moreno laughs and says "I'm just kidding with you!" and hands the gun back to Jake.
Raymond Cruz (best known for his role as Tuco in the TV series, Breaking Bad) is also good in his role as Sniper, another of Smiley's gangbanger friends, who is at the card game with Smiley, Moreno and Jake.
And Cruz's most notable lines are when he plays a hand and he boasts "Boo-ya, baby! Two pair! I got two pair!" but Smiley corrects Sniper and tells him that Jake won "Three of a kind beats two pair, you dumb fuckin truck!". And later there is of course the moment where Moreno asks Jake if he ever has had "his shit pushed in?" and he asks Sniper, who crazily says through clenched teeth "Yeah, I've had my shit pushed in! BIG TIME!!" and he laughs madly.
And finally there are also some smaller performances from the trio of hip-hop stars, starting with Macy Gray who does OK in her role as the wife of the dealer nicknamed the Sandman. And she has some noteworthy lines such as when Alonzo is searching the Sandman's apartment for money, she asks "I wanna see that warrant" and Jake tells her that Alonzo has it. However, she can see right through Jake and that he is a rookie cop, so she tells him "You're a crooked-ass, bitch-ass cop! You're a rookie!".
And after Alonzo reappears and apologises for his intrusion and that he found nothing and as Mrs Sandman asks "I wanna see that warrarnt" Alonzo gives her a paper and leaves quickly as the paper turns out to be a Chinese takeaway menu. So, Mrs Sandman runs out and shouts to nearby gangbangers "Motherfuckers! Hey, jackers! Give me my money back. You ain't no police! Give me my money back! Jackers, why you all standing over there?! Blast them fools! You ain't no police!".
Snoop Dogg also does OK as another dealer, Blue, who is wheelchair bound and in his scene he approaches Alonzo's car and asks "What do you want, man?" and Jake with his hoodie up asks rather feebly "Erm crack?". Blue then sees Alonzo and sees right through Jake and says "Crack? Smell like bacon! Do I look like a sucker to you, nigga? Fuck you, rookie!" and he wheels away but Alonzo then tells Jake to go after him, which he reluctantly does and eventually catches up with him.
And last of all is Dr Dre, with Dre giving arguably the best performance out of the three as one of the corrupt cops, Paul that aids Alonzo in his robbery of Roger's drug money.
And Dre gets some great lines such as in the scene when he first meets with Jake for the first time as Alonzo plans to rob Roger and asks "Who the fuck is this?" and Jake tells him "Jake Hoyt. Its my first day". So, Paul teases Jakes and says to him "You are a long way from Starbucks, homie!" and the others laugh.
And lastly there is the scene where Jake initiates a stand-off between him, Alonzo and the other corrupt cops just after Alonzo kills Roger. So as Paul holds his gun to Jake's head, he says to Alonzo "We need to kill him now and say Roger got him!" however Alonzo manages to diffuse the situation and Jake puts his shotgun down. So, just before Jake leaves he punches Paul and storms out and Paul shouts after him "You're dead, motherfucker! You hear me?! You're fuckin dead!!".
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
The director Antoine Fuqua does an excellent job here with Training Day as he keeps the pace of the film going at a good speed and he also cranks up the tension in the film as it moves along toward its dramatic climax. Fuqua (who sounds exactly like Denzel Washington!) also insisted on making the film in some of the most notorious neighbourhoods in Los Angeles where he even obtained permission to enter some of the LA street gangs housing projects, which marked the first time this had ever been allowed. And for more background info on the film it is well worth checking out Fuqua's director commentary on the DVD or Blu-ray as it is really good and informative.
The film's soundtrack is also worthy of note as the original score which was written by Mark Macina is excellent and it has plenty of dark and dramatic passages that set the tone of the film perfectly. The film's soundtrack also includes some well known hip-hop tracks from artists such as Cyprus Hill, Dr Dre, Gang Starr and P. Diddy.
FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)
So flaws.... does Training Day have any or many? Yeah it does have some.
To start with while Fuqua set out to make a dramatic cop film about corruption and the LA gang neighbourhoods, it does feel at times with the inclusion of such hip-hop artists as Macy Gray and Snoop Dogg in the cast, that you have wandered into an MTV video rather than an actual crime drama. And this is reflected in certain scenes in the gang neighbourhoods and the extras stand around like they belong in a music video and you can almost expect to see Snoop Doggy Dogg come at you bustin some ryhmes!
Another flaw for me is in Jake's character that if he is so goody goody then why would he even consider going to work in narcotics when in the end he sees he is clearly not cut out for it. If being an undercover narc means having to dabble with drugs and get down and dirty among the dealers in order to expose them, then surely Jake is just too clean cut to get involved in it anyway. Its if Jake decides he must undergo a baptism of fire for something in the end he realises that he's not meant for, which means while it was one hellish day, it was in a way also a waste of his time!
And this brings up another issue with Jake's training day: if Alonzo had a big problem with the Russian mafia and had to make a big pay-off to spare his life, wouldn't have been better rescheduling Jake's training day to ANOTHER one when he didn't have all this crap hanging over his head??! But instead having Jake with him on this day is totally his own undoing and of course it would have negated this whole film's existance I guess!
Also on a plot note, I found it a little strange how Jake didn't recognise that they were returning to Roger's house to do the robbery (or warrant search as Jake knows it!) as he had already been there. However, I guess just maybe because Jake was stoned when he first went there, Alonzo would be betting that Jake didn't realise he had been there before and they do go in the back door this time (I think!). However, I still find it a bit bizarre that Jake didn't really twig and go "Hang on! Isn't this Roger's place?!".
And futher to the robbery scene at Roger's house, in the aftermath of the robbery, its funny how the police never question just why there is a big hole in the middle of Roger's kitchen?! Or perhaps they did and it just happened off screen! However I guess they could just call it a seizure of Roger's assets but its not like Alonzo could just claim it for himself wily nily but then again that's where the three wise men come in I guess.
And last of all is the film's climax, which I have to say is pretty over the top and it does somewhat marr the credibility of what went before with Jake getting into a big fight scene with Alonzo by chasing him over rooftops and diving onto his car. It almost feels like at this point they had a copout (no pun intended!) and that for the sake of things they just had to have a chase sequence before Alonzo finally get's his comeuppance.
Anyway that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So in summing up, Training Day is still an excellent action thriller, which features one of Denzel Washington's very best performances for which he won a well deserved Oscar and its good to see him play with his onscreen dark side for a change. Ethan Hawke also puts in a very solid performance as the young rookie cop, Jake and the supporting cast are just as good particularly Cliff Curtis and Scott Glenn. Antoine Fuqua's direction is also excellent and he keeps the film's suspense up very well and his pacing of the film is also very taut throughout.
There are of course some minor issues with the plot and it does appear like we are on an MTV set at times with all the rap/hip-hop stars that appear in the film with Macy Gray, Dr Dre and Snoop, in those moments it get's away from the reality of it all. However despite this it still doesn't detract from what is a very solid crim thriller and one that is still well worth checking out.
Right, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with a post of some sort or other soon.
Till then, its bye fer now!
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