Training Day (2001) Review

Training Day (2001)

Training Day follows rookie cop Jake Hoyt, who goes on a routine training day with Alonzo Harris, a veteran narcotics officer whose questionable methods blur the line between legal and corrupt. 

Training Day is a film that really hinges on the years following the Rodney King riots and the effect they had on Los Angeles. This is an LA that has seen its share of violence, of corruption, of warfare, and whose tension is higher than ever, just waiting to boil over. At its core, this a very deep character study. A twisted, demented and self-assured detective who may have started out with the right intentions, but gradually becomes corrupted by the streets. The screenplay consistently reaffirms this idea that it’s ones environment that changes a person. Being adaptable under given scenarios. The depiction of the streets of Los Angeles and the black and white segregation is rather prominent throughout the film's runtime. Yet it feels extremely real. It is the gritty and dark undertone embedded within the narrative that intrigues you and makes you invested in the characters. 

And so when Jake Hoyt, a naive rookie who just wants to help the world, one crime at a time, comes along, his world is rightfully turned upside down. He enters a world of murder cover-ups, police corruption, drugs, rape, and power, with one man at the root of it all: Alonzo. A lesser man would break under the pressure of just one of these issues, becoming just as corrupt as the next. And so in pitting Jake against Alonzo, his journey is all about toeing that like, tasting that corruption, and whether he will keep his morals or break like every man before and after him. 

We get a phenomenal cast, starring Snoop Dogg, Raymond Cruz, Noel Gugliemi, Cliff Curtis, Dr. Dre, Cle Shaheed Sloan, Eva Mendes, Scott Glenn, Ethan Hawke, and Denzel Washington. It’s hard to think of a more Oscar worthy performance than Denzel Washington’s here. The man is simply a revelation; a barking, ranting maelstrom of police brutality who gives his all to Alonzo, losing himself in the power and dominance such a character begets. Hawke is also very very good, a lone symbol of innocence in a world just telling him to be bad, pushing him every step of the way. 

Training Day, directed by Antoine Fuqua, is all about arrogance in power, and how, in a city on the brink of war such as LA, power and knowledge goes a long way. However loyalty goes further, especially on the streets, where that’s all you have sometimes. 

9.6/10