Good cop Bad Leutenant

Rating: 7/10 (17 April 2008)

This is a good movie, but not perhaps for the same reasons as a lot of people will give merit for. Denzel Washington is on form, won't deny that. The film is well shot, a look at the darker side of LA.
I think watching this again, that it does look a little silly and stereotypical sometimes. Blacks and Hispanics and college kids. Also, some of the events or shots or scripting does seem a little 'theatrical' and 'staged', rather than flowing in such a way that we can 'buy' the story. That being said, it does deliver the goods.
Training day is one of these films that is not really escapism, it is just a fictional story. The real world of law enforcement can be and is (within reason) a dirty and corrupt empire. It's easier to have a Black or Hispanic scapegoat, or somebody to pull over just for kicks or for another notch in the Detective post.
It's an enjoyable watch. I'm not sure how I would feel about it if the two leads were not who they were. Washington rules the roost, and the camera. Hawke plays the honest, determined and somewhat under confident rookie very effectively.
I like films like this, and No Country for Old men, and Traffic simply because they help remind me that I do not live in a a perfumed world, and sometimes it is merely sugar coated.