Jon Monsarrat review: deep & fascinating action film

Rating: 9/10 (3 April 2002)

"Training Day" is either a drama or an action story -- you can take the film for either, which is good because as an action film buff I normally don't get into dramas -- too arty, with melodrama bits that bore me, or overly subtle. Fortunately, Training Day avoids both extremes, being a fascinating police story with outstanding performances that won Ethan Hawke an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and Denzel Washington the Oscar for Best Actor.
The story is gritty and real-world, with an "edge" that avoids campy entirely. Although it's quite violent, they avoid serious gore. And although the premise of the story is not new (what premise is?), how it's played out, especially at the ending, is original and satisfying. The film has both more drama and more action than the recent spate of Robert DeNiro drama / thrillers, including "Heat", which is similar.
Who should see this film:
-- Action film buffs, even if you hate dramas, even if you
are only happy when stuff is blowing up constantly
-- Drama / arty types, unless you are turned off by what is
perhaps one notch too much violence (less than "The Professional" aka "Leon" (1994)).
-- non-action film types who might see one action film every
so often, and have maybe heard about "training day",
with the same caveat about violence.
I'll give "Training Day" an excellent 9 out of 10.