Excellent, Realistic and Disturbing Look at Corruption in a Powerhouse Performance by Washington

Rating: 9/10 (5 March 2020)

Revisiting Training Day the other day after about fifteen years actually raised my score of it from an 8 to a 9. At the time, back in 2001, when it was released it was following behind a golden streak of movie years dating back to the mid-90s, so maybe it wasn't as appreciated as it should have been since the standards were so high; it was still very good, but something left a little to be desired. This sentiment held true on the rewatch, but only as to the very end of the movie, which in my opinion was still disappointing.
Having Alonzo go out like Scarface was a let down and still is. It feels like an easy way out and a lazy way to end the story; it may have been chosen to add to the realism of the movie, but the film was dark enough throughout and didn't need a pitch black depressing ending. They should have at least had Alonzo fire back in a shootout to take out some of the bad guys after him, but the writers didn't allow him to even get one shot off- kind of anticlimactic if you ask me.
However, this is really my only complaint with Training Day. In a surprisingly completely original story, Denzel Washington takes Ethan Hawke's rookie NARC agent through the streets of L.A., teaching him that what he learned in the Academy means zilch in reality once he is in the street game.
Washington's Alonzo rarely evokes sympathy and even when you think he may, you have to question if ALonzo is just playing the game since he is so deceitful and can fake his emotions so well. However, there is one scene where it looks like Alonzo does let his guard down, and it is in that brief moment that you see that the real Alonzo is a broken man who has been hardened and corrupted by the true realities of the job through the years, which has taken its toll on him, giving him no choice but to play the game.
But make no mistake, Alonzo is a bad guy. When the plot unfolds and his reasoning and tactics are revealed, you see that he is a scheming criminal, who is ruthless and will do anything to save himself, even if it means gaming and playing a rookie partner as a pawn in his game of survival.
There is lots of truth and revelations as to the nature of cop corruption in this movie that I had never seen this realistic before. The way Alonzo can get dirt on everyone, but only use it if he needs to is very shocking and eye opening. He uses it to keep everyone on the street (and in his department sect) in line, but if they step out of line and get him in trouble, then he will just go write them up for a past violation and charge them. Knowing this, he purposefully tempts those around him to commit crimes (sometimes deceptively) so that he immediately has dirt on them (exampled in telling Hawke to take the dirty money and smoke the marijuana, which Hawke later learns from Alonzo himself is actually a much harder drug in dust- this btw was one of the most disturbing scenes watching Hawke's character get corrupted so early on by this lie).
Alonzo has his "dogs" or "boys" all over the slums of L.A., which are for the most part his informants who he has been protecting from throughout his time working the streets. But you watch as he will play them as an Ace card in the hole if he needs to in order to escape justice himself, and simultaneously he explains why these high rollers can never face the court since they have too much dirt on everyone else as well and it would be hard to get a conviction after years of them serving as informants.
In summary, the movie depicts an inevitable corruption that evolves in some police departments, as Alonzo has become corrupted and disillusioned by the realities of the game, which can only be learned through experience. The dangers and temptations, as well as him facing himself in the mirror have taken their toll on his soul, leaving him with no choice but to check his heart at the door in order to survive both the street itself and his own criminality. Alonzo is ruthless and willingly wears two faces throughout the job, always playing chess, but for all of his street smarts, you can't help but despise his bad behaviors and corrupt acts.
This is a great movie that is riveting, creates constant tension, and teaches what can go wrong in police departments, especially those that have to deal with the dregs of society and the drug game. Hopefully Hawke's character went on to just write parking tickets like he implied after getting a taste of the realities of the job that no good soul would ever want to be a part of.
9/10