Training Day 2001
I saw this on DVD years after it originally came out. It is a very intense, but not particularly believable story about a corrupt cop on the narcotics squad training a young street officer whose only motivation seems to be laid out in the beginning: he wants to make detective so he can have a bigger house and a nice car for his new family. This makes him take drugs, allow the veteran to abuse him and pull a gun on him, and turn a blind eye to any number of felonies. And that’s before lunch.
But if you get beyond that, it is kind of interesting figuring out what the veteran (Denzel Washington) is up to and how the new guy (Ethan Hawke) will get out of this horrible situation that is as much fault his as anyone’s. Denzel, in full motor mouth mode, spews enough truth about life on the streets that I stayed with the movie.
Still, this is a pretty average movie. Good if you want something intense and can accept that every cop with five years of experience is corrupt. B-
Written: 22 Aug 2007
Owned on: Blu-ray, Digital