A B-movie

Rating: 3/10 (14 August 2006)

I can start off by saying that i consider the Academy Award to be a very dubious award. It seems more like a pat on the back for long and faithful service (and with a little added political correctness) than a true award for outstanding achievement. That being said i still think it's insane that this movie (or rather the actors in this movie) was nominated for two Academy Awards and received one.
Now don't get me wrong, Denzel Washington is a terrific actor. I have seen and liked him in many parts but this just isn't one of them. In fact part of why this movie is such a failure is Denzel Washington. The whole streetwise cop-routine just doesn't work for him. He ends up looking like the kind of cop who wouldn't have survived one episode of "The Shield" (to name one similar reference). And still we are to believe that he is a man who has lived well off of bribe money for a long time.
And the second issue of credibility is of course Ethan Hawke. I'm not an expert on the American police authorities but somehow i doubt that someone would like to put Ethan Hawke in plainclothes in an all-black/Hispanic neighborhood. Even that issue put aside Ethan Hawke still looks like he's fifteen years old and completely lacks any credibility as a policeman. And for this he gets one Academy Award nomination? And beside these monumental issues? Well it's more or less like one long and quite poorly written episode of "The Shield". The old jaded corrupt cop shows complete disregard for his own and his rookies safety when he plays the streets like an amateur throughout. The technical quality of the movie are OK, as is the scenery. The acting is not impressive though, although i would credit that to poor writing more than substandard actors.
"Training Day" is a B-movie in every respect except one; it has stars attached to it and one of those stars was long overdue for an Academy Award. This movie could just as easily have been in theaters for two weeks and then gone right to the video store if you replaced Denzel with, say, Cuba Gooding Jr. And an over-acting star in a poorly written role does not a good movie make. Personally i lament that Denzel couldn't get his award for a more memorable performance, also in that regard is this movie a waste.