One of this year´s biggest sleeper-hits

Rating: 8/10 (28 December 2001)

In "Training Day", we get to follow young cop Jake Hoyt on his (you guessed it) training day, the day that will decide if he is cut out to be in the narcotic departments, where he so badly wants to be. But his supervisor turns out to be a nightmare, and Jake´s training day becomes a day full of hell.
"Training Day" turned out to be a real surprise for me, as I wasn´t expecting anything special when I walked into the cinema. But it turned out to be one of the better cop-thrillers I have ever seen, with a script that contains many surprises.
The acting is first class all the way. I wouldn´t be surprised if Denzel Washington gets another Oscar nomination, because here he really shines. It´s different from most of his other work, but he´s very confident and believable when he is teaching the viewers the "law of the street" with that lovely accent. Ethan Hawke makes an nice comeback, after a few tough years with not many films worth seeing.
Oldies´ like Tom Berenger, Scott Glenn and Harris Yulin have small but important roles, and it´s fun to see artists like Macy Gray and Snoop Doggy Dog in cameos. The director portrays the ghetto with an interesting touch, and the story is strong and shocking at times.
The ending feels unnecessary violent and something that´s there to please the action fans, who might have trouble to cope with the rather slow pace at times. But all in all, "Training Day" is a rock-solid cop-movie.
4/5