Washington and Hawke are great, but...

Rating: Null/10 (16 April 2002)

Can they save "Training Day"? Not quite.
"Training Day" definitely wants to be remembered as an in-your-face, gritty police drama. That it is, except it reaches the level of being so over-the-top that it becomes ludicrous. This particularly rings true for the ending, easily one of the worst of recent memory. I will not give it away, but it really had me scratching my head. The alternative ending on the DVD does not fare better.
Denzel Washington is a show-stopper for the entire film, giving his most over-the-top performance to date (it may even beat out "John Q"). He is obviously having fun, which is what I liked. Hawke is excellent in a difficult role. He has the perfect tone for the most uncomfortable scenes, but can still show authority.
Hothead Antoine Fuqua ("The Replacement Killers") directs with confidence here, and he had excellent production values to work with.
In the end, Washington was worthy of the Oscar (although I still feel Tom Wilkenson from "In The Bedroom" should have taken home the statue), Hawke was questionable as Best Supporting Actor, and a string of unlikely and unbelievable events ran this movie into the ground at about the 90 minute mark.
RATING: B-