Good, not great

Rating: 6/10 (21 March 2005)

Denzel Washington won his Best Actor Oscar for this film and I am one of (seemingly) many who feel he did not deserve it - for this particular movie. Washington is one of my favorite actors but it seems he deserved it more for other projects - the Academy was in it for the politics that year, as far as I'm concerned. Denzel actually gave a better performance in 2004's "Man on Fire," but of course that's just my opinion.
"Training Day" follows the path of "Bad Lieutenant" studying police corruption, but it is really using this as an analogy for the corruption of humanity itself - Jake (Ethan Hawke) is a good straight, honest cop who is slowly but surely twisted by his bad influence (Washington), the sadistic corrupt cop.
This is not a great movie but it is a good one, with solid performances. That all said, I don't think it was Oscar-worthy and I do believe Washington has given far better performances.