Reader Recommendation: Training Day

Yes, I was supposed to watch Drive Angry today, but that's a long story. Interesting fact, when a projector completely fails and you have to wait for 40 minutes before they cancel the show, you get 2 free movie passes put in your hand.

A close friend of mine was very disappointed when the cop movie poll went to Police Academy instead of Training Day. He requested that I watch it anyways, and so here I am.

Training Day stars Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke and it's all about corrupt cops. Hit the jump to see if this movie played good cop or bad cop.

It's the first day on the job for Jake Hoyt, played by Ethan Hawke in the narcotic division. His new partner is Det. Alonzo Harris, played by Denzel Washington. He basically gets thrown into the serious stuff right away, as Alonzo shows him what it's really like to work the streets. And it's not always by the book. The entire movie takes place during the course of one day. I thought that was really cool, seeing how far and drastic things go in such a short time, not only in events that unfold, but in how a person can change as well.

Jake starts off as a by-the-books rookie, but Alonzo quickly changes that with a series of quick drug busts that show him he's going to have to accept that they don't always follow the rules. Slowly but surely we see Jake accept the reality of Alonzo's world. But he doesn't know how far Alonzo is willing to go, or what he's gotten himself into.

Alonzo threatens a junkie with a knife to the face as Jake looks on

When I first started watching this movie, I honestly wasn't liking it. Then I realized why. It was just because I was hating Denzel so much. He's usually such a good guy, but he's a total jerk and worse in this movie. I utterly hated him, and that was only after 30 minutes. Now THAT's some quality acting and character work. Once I clocked into that, I started really enjoying the movie. The deals they get themselves into start getting more serious, and all the famous singers start also showing up around this time too. Snoop Dogg, Macy Grey, Dr. Dre. Kinda weird seeing them all in one movie to be honest.

The story is quite good too, and I can see how rewatching it could add a little bit to the movie. I can't really get into any of that with out possibly spoiling some story elements, but by the end it was really cool how everything added up and came together.

This was a good watch and has some great moments. One thing I'd like to say is that I found this movie almost like a horror movie, but not in the traditional sense. More like it painted a horrifying picture of the world. Normally we watch movies as a way of escaping our lives and the world. Even in horror movies, the violence is so over the top, part of your brain just says "this couldn't ever really happen" and you just enjoy the film. What I found with this movie is that the world seems so real and so gritty, you could actually believe that this totally could happen, and that's the disturbing part. I know it's based on a book or real events or something (I should really have looked that up... oh well) but even in cases like that it's not always that the movie can properly convey that, but this one did. Pick it up, see it. It's a great cop/crime movie for sure!