Training Day takes you to hell

Rating: 8/10 (20 May 2002)

The script, direction, and acting go from superb to almost over the top at times to make the characters too good, too evil, and too dark. Denzel Washington's performance is much like that. At times, he is a believable bad guy, at others, he's just the type of guy who makes you think if even Hitler had kinder elements to him. It's difficult to tell if that makes the film better or worse. Personally, I don't think it made it better. It made it just a tad bit less believable. But in a way, that is necessary to show the badness of the streets and the ghetto/barrio neighborhoods that Ethan Hawke is left in to fend for himself.
There is a deleted scene on the DVD that would have, in my opinion, made Denzel seem more human. I would have liked it in the film and cut some of that "King Kong" monologue near the end to make him a more tragic figure at the end. > 8/10