A filmmaker's dilemma (some spoilage included)

Rating: 4/10 (1 December 2001)

Do you take big money from a studio, thus enabling you to hire the actor that could make your movie great, knowing that the studio will make certain script requirements guaranteed to ruin the whole thing?
This movie was so bad, but came so close to being so good. I was thrilled for the first, say, 105 minutes of Training Day. Then, rather than giving us a shocking ending, which would have been ok, or an ambiguous ending, which would have been better, we are given a cheesy formulaic ending. Not only that, the last 15 minutes are an assault on the viewer's intelligence. We are required to believe that Hawke's character would give up his weapon, we are hit with a ridiculous coincidence with the wallet, and it is suggested that our hero would know how to use LA's bus system to travel (quickly, another joke) from Boyle Heights to South Central (for those of you not from here, that would not happen). Then Washington's character leaves Hawke's alive, and...oh forget it, the list just keeps going.
But up until that point, I was so impressed. Hawke's internal struggle was great to watch, and pretty plausible. Washington, awful as his character was, was a joy to watch. It was fairly reflective of local issues, coming on the heels of the Rampart police scandal, in which cops in one part of the city (where most of the movie was set) took over the streets, making a huge impact in crime while doing some terrible things. The action scenes (until the latter moments) were fairly realistic looking and fun to watch. The character actors in smaller roles (Macy Gray, Snoop Dogg, and especially Cliff Curtis and his friends) were outstanding. You know, this movie had everything I would have wanted, except for an ending that didn't p*** me off.
Go see this movie, but once it moves to the bathtub, feel free to stop.