Training Day
Tags: comedy, neo noir, murder, violence, romantic, storytelling

Plot synopsis:
The movie begins as we see Ethan Hawke waking up on the 1st day of his new assignment as an undercover narcotics officer in the grittiest part of LA. The head of his unit is Denzel Washington who has 4 other men working for him. Today, Hawke will be riding along with Denzel so he can show him the streets, and see how young Hawke performs under pressure.For the next few hours we are taken from the ghetto to the barrio, from drug dealers to rapists. We learn a lot about Denzel's character as he seems to know every bad person out there. He even lives with a girl in the ghetto with their son. In that particular neighborhood, behind his back, everyone hates Denzel and his abuse of authority.While driving past an alleyway, Hawke sees a young girl about to be raped and yells at Denzel to stop the car. He doesn't want to stop because that's not what he's there for. Hawke jumps out of the car and rescues the girl but not before getting into a huge fight with the 2 men. Hawke is victorious and as he is consoling the girl, Denzel shows up and tortures the 2 men a little before sending them on their way.The girl hurriedly leaves and Hawke finds her wallet on the ground and puts it into his pocket (important later on).Denzel takes Hawke to an old friend of his (Scott Glenn) who is a retired LAPD veteran but is now dealing drugs on the side. They share a drink together and a few laughs.Everywhere they go, Denzel gets away with more money, or drugs by shaking down or just scaring the hell out of the bad guys. At one point Denzel forces Hawke to smoke PCP laced pot so he can at least fit in with the dealers. It's obvious that Hawke doesn't agree with what's going on but Denzel explains to him that to protect the sheep, you need to kill the wolves and the only way to do that is to become a wolf.They go to a lunch meeting with some big wigs in law enforcement but about all we can make out is that they aren't exactly the nicest people. It seems that earlier, Denzel screwed up somehow in Las Vegas and now owes the Russian mob a million dollars. He needs to get it to them by midnight.Denzel meets up with the other 4 members of his unit and they storm into Scott Glenn's house. Glenn had 4 million dollars stashed away in the floorboards and they celebrate their 3 million dollar drug bust. Hawke corrects them that it is 4 million but Denzel takes a million and says, no, it's 3 million.They shoot and kill Scott Glenn and then set it up to look like when they stormed the house that Glenn fired on them and they fired back, killing him.Hawke won't go through with it but Denzel reminds him that all the evidence points to it happening that way as well as 5 of them agreeing. He also reminds him that he could say that everything was under control but Hawke freaked out and shot him. After all, a blood test would reveal that he had PCP in his system.They head out to the barrio where Denzel tells him he needs to give some goods to the family of one of his informants. There is a card game going on in the kitchen and Hawke waits there while Denzel goes into the bathroom.One of the guys opens the package that Denzel left and has his sister count out the money that was inside. The four card players jump Hawke. Hawke looks out the window and Denzel's car is gone. He had paid these guys to kill him. They take him into the bathroom and just as they're about to shoot him in the head, one of them decides to take his wallet first. Out of his pocket comes the wallet he recovered from the rape scene earlier that day. It just so happens to belong to one of the guy's cousin. Hawke pleads with them telling them that he saved her from being raped that afternoon. They call her and she backs up Hawke's story so they let him go.Hawke heads out to the worst part of South Central area where Denzel is living and confronts him just as he is packing up his million to give to the Russians. For the next 10 minutes or so there is a shootout in the house, on the roof and in the streets of the neighborhood. Finally, Hawke forces Denzel to crash his car, temporarlily knocking Denzel out.When he recovers, he and Hawke face each other in the street with all the gang members surrounding them. Hawke has a gun on Denzel and Denzel offers to make whomever kills Hawke "a very rich man." There are no takers. In fact, they draw their guns on Denzel and allow Hawke to leave.After Hawke leaves, Denzel gets into his car and drives towards the airport. His car is forced to a stop by a couple vans and out jump machine gun carrying Russians who absolutely blow him away. (Think of James Caan in The Godfather)When Hawke gets home we hear newscasts describing the killing of a highly decorated narcotics officer who was gunned down while investigating drug trafficking at the airport.

Review: You don't have to go that deep to know that Alonzo was once a good cop who just got fed up w/ 'police procedures.' If you acknowledge that Jake's shallow-mindedness at the beginning of the film only allows him to look at the perks of making detective and how the progress of the day transforms him, you can really appreciate Ethan's portrayal of him.
Training Day is a solid action crime thriller with exceptional performances by Ethan Hawke and especially Denzel Washington.
Director Antoine Fuqua has done an admirable job of making this movie about a rookie cop who gets into a lot more than he bargained for while on a day with a senior rogue detective to prove he's got what it takes to be a narc.
Denzel Washington is fantastic as twisted but charismatic Detective Alonzo Harris who takes a big departure from his good guy roles to play the villain in this one.
Despite some flaws Training Day is an entertaining action crime thriller with great performances from Hawke and especially Washington who make this movie definitely worth the time to watch..
In his Acadamy Award Winning Performance,as best Actor.The movie, as the title suggests, follows a single day in the life of rookie cop Jake Hoyt (Hawk) as he is subject to a single day of evaluation by a senior, decorated police narcotics officer Alonzo Harris (Washington) to see if he has what it takes to be a 'narc'.
From their first encounters though, where Hoyt tells Harris he will do "anything you want me to do", the situations Hoyt is taken into become more and more morally ambiguous, from the simple use of excessive force to outright illegal activity, forcing Hoyt to decide which side Harris is truly on, whether to trust him, or whether Hoyt is the unwitting centerpiece of a huge and complex web of lies and set-ups in order for Harris to for fill his own sinister motives..This is the movie that won Denzel the Oscar that year for Best Actor!!
I don't want to give an plot lines away but there are only three movies in cinema history I have given 10/10, and this one was so close to being number four.I sincerely hope to see Denzel put in another performance like this one.Plot is excellent as it leads you into false sense of securities and even shouting at the TV set.I loved every breathtaking moment of this film and I am sure you will too.Quite extraordinary..
This movie impressed me by its great quality in all ways, the story, thrilling with great police detective action and the most remarkable aspect of the movie was the acting performances of Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke; they put his soul on the characters making this movie a total delight for those who like action films with intelligent scripts and also like for high quality films.About the Movie: Ethan Hawke plays Jake Hoyt, a rookie police officer with a good curriculum that is assigned to a one day trial day in order to qualify for a narcotics division in Los Angeles.
At the end of they day they're "Just people and they always were" (Ethan Hawk in a making of Traning day interview).The movie isn't the fastest paced one around - there are some slow moments but they are played out meaningfully due to some great acting talent which gels the scenes together well.
There are no clichés, nothing feels sappy, and it is a hard experience for the viewer at times to see the reality of the streets of L.A. and its corruption depicted in this movie.Powered by an amazing performance from Denzel Washington, the man's performance was 100% Oscar-worthy.
Ethan Hawke is not bad at all in the film, he's actually pretty good but he lives in the shadow of Denzel's performance in this movie.A lot of people complain about the ending, for some reason.
Training Day is one of the best cop movie ever made..also an intense and uncompromising crime thriller...It astonishingly visualizes the dark side in LAPD....Denzel steals the show by his performance....this might just be his masterpiece..Denzel played a role of a narcotics cop named Alonzo and this character is one of the most menacing villains to hit the screen, and it's all because of Denzel..Ethan Hawke done his best but Denzel steals the show away from him...Plot is very clear and picking up irrelevant plot holes is pointless..Another good thing of movie is dialogues..Just imagine powerful dialogues with worlds finest actor...Its the best Hollywood's finest actor can offer Go watch it now...If you really liked the movie check out the DVD with the extras..My Rating 9/10....
If, like me, you passed up Training Day in the theater because youthought it looked stupid, but after Denzel Washington won the BestActor Oscar, you thought about renting it because, you know,maybe it's not so bad, then DO NOT RENT THIS MOVIE!I'm by no means a movie snob.
or like in this movie he deals with Drug-mafia's and for once he's the Bad Guy!."This one wasn't special although i must admit i have a "Soft-Spot" for the "Beautiful, Foxy and Sexy Femme Fatale" Eva Mendes.This movie just didn't do it for me.Denzel Washington is an actor but is he a great actor?He has won an Oscar, but let me ask you this : Is everyone ho wins an Oscar "Worthy" of winning the Prize?Is John Ruiz truly a Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the world?Is Lennox Lewis one of the all-time great Heavyweight Boxing champions?The answer on the Denzel Washington question will always be a split decision, in my eyes.The best movie i saw of him was : "The Hurricane".That was truly a brilliant performance, but "Training Day" is not.And i think that movie will always make the grade in my book.The "annoying" thing about this movie is that the "predictability" is pretty "obvious and boring".When i mean "Predictability" i mean : Guns, Drugs, Mafia, shootout and This and that.And even if Denzel played the "Bad Guy".There wasn't anything "Special" about that role.Russell Crowe's "Beautiful Mind" but especially Will Smith's Ali are much better "Performance's".Some people on "this Board" seem to think this movie is "real day to day life." or think that this Denzel's best performance.Well i don't think so!Hurricane was his best, Malcolm X i wasn't impressed with and Out Of Time was Good to watch but Sanaa Lathan and again Eva Mendes made it even more Tasty!And all that talk about this movie being real "day to day" life?How "Out of touch" can you be?At the end of the day everyone is in titled to his opinion.So my conclusion : This movie isn't one of "Denzel's" better performance's.
Eva Mendes will always be "Beautiful" on the screen, she is a "Very Underrated" Talent.Ethan Hawke seemingly is very popular for his "role", witch was pretty good.And there are a lot of "unnecessary" "Rappers" invited like Dr. Dre and Snoop "Doggy" Dogg.And that doesn't much help the credibility of the "real life case" of this movie, that is put forward by some people on this board.And although the movie is rated "High" by many in my eyes the movie was nothing special than a "Mediocre, Nothing Special Predictable" Performance.For the people ho enjoy these kind of "Action, Drug Mafia and Denzel type movies" I'd recommend it.But for people ho are looking for "more" depth and a better or a more "Real Life" performance, i say : This is not the movie for You!My Score : 4.2"Groeten" from Gerrit.
And of course, in spite of his off screen behaviour and like him or not, Russell Crowe was the best in A Beautiful Mind.Don't waste your time on this film, that is unless you want to see the real Best Supporting Actor performance, a really great turn by Ethan Hawke..
I cannot believe DENZEL WASHINGTON could win an acting award for the vile, vulgar dialogue of his character.The main word in the movie was "dog" this & "dog" that.What a complete ton of garbage.The plot of the movie was fairly & cleverly thought out.However, there is a lot of warmed over milk with this police type theme.You can find dozens of 'cop' thrillers at the video store.What separates this movie from being average is the abhorrent language utilized by the feature character.
I was very disappointed in it.I like Densel Washington,but to think he won an academy award for this role over Crowe's in "A BEAUTIFUL MIND" is hard to believe.I don't like films that make some sort of heros out of low life gang members.Most of the situations in this movie are just not believable.
meanwhile, ethan hawke, sigh, has never been my favorite actors, performs a whining mouse-like role as the partner, maybe it's supposed to be that way, didn't like it anyway.anyhow, the strong points of this movie are good action sequences, nice street feeling and an ok plot.
I didn't get what I expected but I did stay through the whole thing.Denzel plays a psychopathic police officer (impersonator in my opinion) "training" Ethan on his first day as a rookie narc on his way to becoming a detective.
How did they all get so good?!This movie is an excellent film due in large part to Denzel Washington who makes everyone around him perform better at their work.
In a twist on the generic buddy movie, Ethan Hawke is a naive rookie narcotics officer paired for the day with veteran rogue Denzel Washington.
In his Academy Award Winning Performance,as best Actor.The movie, as the title suggests, follows a single day in the life of rookie cop Jake Hoyt (Hawk) as he is subject to a single day of evaluation by a senior, decorated police narcotics officer Alonzo Harris (Washington) to see if he has what it takes to be a 'narc'.
Written by David Ayer (one of the screenplay producers of the Oscar winning movie "U-571") "Training Day" unfolds the story of Det. Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington) - an LAPD narcotics officer, and his colleague - the rookie Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke).
The film places Ethan Hawk in the role of Jake Hoyt, a rookie cop who ventures on a 24- hour 'ride along' with veteran narcotics detective Alonzo Harris (played by Denzel Washington).
Complete with mesmerizing performances by Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke, powerful directing by Antoina Faqua, and a spectacular screenplay by David Ayer; Training Day definitely hits home..
LAPD narcotics detective Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington) takes rookie detective Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) on his training day.
Training Day is a good movie and I think it is a good movie for all of the right reasons.The plot is very interesting.It follows two LAPD narcotics detectives named Jake Hoyt and Alonzo Harris over a twenty four-hour in the gang neighborhoods of North West and South Central Los Angeles and they ride around the block, do some cop work and this leads into a very good and intense ending.The acting is amazing in this film.Ethan Hawke plays Jake Hoyt and he did incredible in all of his scenes, including that fight he had with Denzel Washington at the end of the film and I am surprised that he did not win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his part.
Training Day is a good movie and I think it is a good movie for all of the right reasons.The plot is very interesting.It follows two LAPD narcotics detectives named Jake Hoyt and Alonzo Harris over a twenty four-hour in the gang neighborhoods of North West and South Central Los Angeles and they ride around the block, do some cop work and this leads into a very good and intense ending.The acting is amazing in this film.Ethan Hawke plays Jake Hoyt and he did incredible in all of his scenes, including that fight he had with Denzel Washington at the end of the film and I am surprised that he did not win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his part.
He deserved that Oscar and I will forever be mad that he did not get it.The real credit is given to the man himself, Denzel Washington, who I reviewed as The Equalizer in the 2014 film based on the television series of the same name.Denzel Washington plays the villain Alonzo Harris really amazing and his performance was just top-notch and very amazing and not only he played that part amazingly, he did a great job with the dialogue written for him at the end when all of the gang members turn against him after letting Ethan Hawke's character got home and the scene where he was shot by Russian gang members just had me wanting to cry the first time I saw this film.He won the Oscar for Best Actor and he was spectacular in the role and it is a departure from his usual roles that he played and he would play Frank Lucas in the 2007 film American Gangster and he did a really amazing job.The rest of the cast, nothing more to say about them, but they all do great, especially Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg in the screen time that they have.The music by Mark Mancina is just amazing and I listen to the musical score and soundtrack for this film on my phone and it sounds really good in the film and I could have not been more happier.Overall, I love Training Day. It is a fine example of what police dramas should be and this film does not get enough credit.8.5/10.
He deserved that Oscar and I will forever be mad that he did not get it.The real credit is given to the man himself, Denzel Washington, who I reviewed as The Equalizer in the 2014 film based on the television series of the same name.Denzel Washington plays the villain Alonzo Harris really amazing and his performance was just top-notch and very amazing and not only he played that part amazingly, he did a great job with the dialogue written for him at the end when all of the gang members turn against him after letting Ethan Hawke's character got home and the scene where he was shot by Russian gang members just had me wanting to cry the first time I saw this film.He won the Oscar for Best Actor and he was spectacular in the role and it is a departure from his usual roles that he played and he would play Frank Lucas in the 2007 film American Gangster and he did a really amazing job.The rest of the cast, nothing more to say about them, but they all do great, especially Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg in the screen time that they have.The music by Mark Mancina is just amazing and I listen to the musical score and soundtrack for this film on my phone and it sounds really good in the film and I could have not been more happier.Overall, I love Training Day. It is a fine example of what police dramas should be and this film does not get enough credit.8.5/10.
Don't get me wrong, I will take nothing away from Hawke's performance but they made the character of Hoyte so bland and predictable, the goody goody, always does right and I know thats what they were going for but they could have made him more interesting, maybe he is tempted by Alonzo and almost turns to the dark side or at the end of the film, something to make him more complex, particularly after all he has gone through.Overall, if you like cop/crime thrillers then you will definitely enjoy this, if you want something with a lot of depth this may not be for you but hey, watch and make your own conclusion..
Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke did a Amazing job in this movie, They made it seem real like it's natural to them.
Denzel Washington earned his Best Actor Oscar in 'Training Day' portraying a veteran LAPD narcotics officer who has become every bit as hard, amoral and corrupt as the mean city streets he patrols.
The story focuses on Ethan Hawke's character, a lowly cop being promoted to a narc who goes out on a day of training with an unconventional undercover veteran played by Denzel Washington.
Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) is a new police officer with a great heart and string conscience who starts his first day with experienced and dirty police officer Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington).
"Training Day" is the story of Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke), an LAPD rookie who is looking to join a top-notch narcotics squad led by Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington).
First things first, Denzel Washington most definitely deserved the Academy Award he won for his portrayal of crooked LAPD cop Alonzo, and Ethan Hawke got a nomination, sure, don't really care.
Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke both cast against type in this excellent cop movie.
With Denzel Washington turning in his best performance as the villain and Ethan Hawke as the idealistic, likable and heroic good guy, this is anything but a routine movie.
Both actors are excellent in their roles, and Antoine Fuqua does an excellent job bringing a gritty no holds barred crime movie to the screen.LAPD Officer Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) is an idealistic, honest, good hearted rookie who has one day to prove himself that he has what it takes in the Narcotics Division.
A Star Shines in Training Day. In his Oscar-winning performance, Denzel Washington inhabits the role of the street-tough narcotics cop to such an extent that you forget that, prior to this movie, Mr. Washington had begun to be stereo-typed as the perpetual good guy.
I always like this kind of mafia movies...Apart form Denzel Washington's acting (as he is always good) Ethan Hawke was phenomenal.I did not get one thing...
After Denzel won his best actor oscar for "Training Day," I thought about checking this movie out.