Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke both cast against type in this excellent cop movie

Rating: 9/10 (5 February 2015)

It's easy to look at Training Day as just another action/crime movie with the bad cop corrupting the rookie and dragging him into his world. With Denzel Washington turning in his best performance as the villain and Ethan Hawke as the idealistic, likable and heroic good guy, this is anything but a routine movie. Both actors are excellent in their roles, and Antoine Fuqua does an excellent job bringing a gritty no holds barred crime movie to the screen.
LAPD Officer Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) is an idealistic, honest, good hearted rookie who has one day to prove himself that he has what it takes in the Narcotics Division. Jake Hoyt is very eager to make a good impression and earn his place as well as seeing this role as a stepping stone to making Detective. Detective Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington in his Academy Award winning role as Best Actor) is a 13 year highly decorated veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department and has a feared and respected reputation amongst all police officers, friends, criminals, and enemies alike. Alonzo is assigned to showing Jake the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles as well as taking Jake under his wing as a mentor. However, Alonzo Harris is a corrupt police officer to the point where the line is blurred between cop and criminal, right and wrong, good and bad, and what is legal and illegal. Alonzo Harris is not above physically intimidating and assaulting suspects, as well as stealing, robbing, assaulting, planting evidence, and setting up a murder to look like a justified shooting. Though Alonzo Harris justifies this as all in the good of taking bad guys off the street or in his words which he lives by on the streets of Los Angeles, "To protect the sheep you gotta catch the wolf, and it takes a wolf to catch a wolf." Alonzo Harris is also extremely arrogant and selfish who will do anything for money as well as caring very little for anyone else but himself.
Once Jake Hoyt witnesses Alonzo Harris' unconventional methods of enforcing the law through his own brand of street justice in which he makes up his own rules, Jake finds that it may be too late to save himself and his career. Alonzo threatens Jake by making him smoke drugs at gunpoint otherwise face being thrown out of Narcotics Division. Jake also witness many immoral acts committed by Alonzo to the point where he questions his own conscience and whether Alonzo is a police officer wanting to enforce street justice or just a criminal wanting to commit acts beneficial to himself.
Denzel Washington is well known for portraying a variety of good guys on the screen in movies such as Glory, Philadelphia and The Hurricane. Cast against type in Training Day, he does an excellent job portraying the villainous, down and dirty Alonzo Harris. There was a lot of controversy when Denzel Washington won the 2001 Best Actor Academy Award for his role when Russell Crowe was strongly tipped for his role in A Beautiful Mind. Regardless, Denzel Washington thoroughly deserved to win for his role. This is definitely Denzel Washington's best role in his entire career.
Ethan Hawke was previously known for his roles in Dead Poets Society, Alive, Reality Bites, and The Newton Boys. Ethan Hawke, who also deserved to be nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award, comes of age in his role as the idealistic and honest rookie Jake Hoyt who is very eager to make a good impression but finds himself in over his head in an unfamiliar world. Although Jake Hoyt makes several mistakes which end up almost costing him his career as well as his life, he proves himself to be a capable police officer when he saves a teenage girl from being sexually assaulted by two homeless men, which later saves his life. To date, this is Ethan Hawke's best role.
Other actors which appear in Training Day include Scott Glenn (The Silence of the Lambs) as a local drug dealer Roger, Tom Berenger (Platoon) as District Attorney Stan Gursky, Harris Yulin (Scarface) as Detective Doug Roselli, rapper Snoop Dogg as wheelchair bound drug dealer named Blue, New Zealand actor Cliff Curtis (Three Kings) as a thug named Smiley, pop star Macy Gray as the wife of a drug dealer, Eva Mendes in an early role as Alonzo's mistress Sara, and as part of Alonzo's corrupt crew of police officers rapper Dr. Dre as Paul (who comes across as a thug than a police officer), and Nick Chinlund (Con Air) as Tim.
Training Day certainly left a long lasting impression of me when I first saw this movie back in 2002 which will never be forgotten. In what could have been a routine action movie, becomes an intense, gritty and compelling cop drama. Excellent job all round, Denzel Washington earns his well deserved critical acclaim as the bad guy Alonzo Harris, and Jake Hoyt also deserves acclaim for his role as Jake Hoyt. It's also great to see Antoine Fuqua go on to direct greater movies such as Tears of the Sun, Shooter and The Equalizer. Screenwriter David Ayer has also carved out his own career following this movie and has also made his mark as a director with Street Kings, End of Watch, and Fury.
Training Day is an excellent movie which is definitely highly recommended.
9/10.