A different Denzel for the better.

Rating: 9/10 (20 March 2008)

Over the years Denzel Washington is known to playing either heroic leading characters or historic people (Malcolm X, Herman Boone), but now he gets to play the villain for the first time where I couldn't keep my eyes off of him when he first made his appearance as Alonzo Harris.
"Training Day" is really about Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke in a different turn from Indie films), a trainee for the Los Angeles Narcotic Division where he wants to put away the bad guys just like all good cops are suppose to do until he meets Alonzo, a bad-ass happy trigger cop who knows everything about the city of Los Angeles from the Vatos, the druggies, the pimps, the cripples, the gang members who alert Alonzo, and so forth where he also speaks languages.
Hoyt thinks that all he's doing with Alonzo is part of a routine...he's wrong about one thing.
From one event to another Hoyt is either being dragged or coaxed by Alonzo from taking drugs, being part of a set-up after a murder where now he doesn't really know if being a narcotic officer is the line of work for him.
"Training Day" is an insane ride where Denzel takes the screen like a madman tied to a bomb not knowing when he's going explode; he takes the term villain to a whole new level especially in cop corruption. Ethan Hawke is outstanding as the new rookie where other performances from Scott Glenn, Macy Gray, Dr. Dre, Tom Beranger, Peter Greene and Snoop Dogg shine out as well.