Training Day Reviews
Training Day review
Posted : 6 years, 4 months ago on 24 November 2017 09:38One of the best performance of his movie-making career. Between this movie and Malcome X, I struggled a bit with picking this one which means this guy is a rock-solid actor with immense talent.
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"Training Day" (2001)
Posted : 9 years, 6 months ago on 8 October 2014 01:42FIRST IMPRESSIONS
This review will contain basic spoilers. Sorry, but it's required to fully explain my impressions.
As the title implies, this movie takes place over the course of a single day, as a rookie narcotics detective (Ethan Hawke's Jake) is introduced to the gang neighbourhoods by an experienced veteran (Denzel Washington's Alonzo). And, as crime thrillers go, this is a pretty damn good one.
What really sticks out about it is how the two leads' relationship progresses from good-humoured banter to downright horrific disillusionment in the first two acts. Jake is the by-the-book, ethical cop, the character whose morals we can identify with. But as things progress and he sees Alonzo acting more and more like the common criminals, which Alonzo insists is required to understand them, we become just as anxious as he does.
Also, on a side note, I'd heard that Gary Sinise was considered for Denzel Washington's part, so while I was watching it, I kept imagining him in the role. And, honestly, as much as I love Gary Sinise, I just don't think he would have worked as well.
Sadly, the third act is where the movie lost me. It culminates in an action climax that feels completely tacked on. We can certainly understand Jake's motivation, and maybe you can kind of deduce Alonzo's, but it still doesn't make much sense for them to be at each other's throats like that.
It's a shame that that last act tarnishes a previously great movie.
My rating: 75%
This review will contain basic spoilers. Sorry, but it's required to fully explain my impressions.
As the title implies, this movie takes place over the course of a single day, as a rookie narcotics detective (Ethan Hawke's Jake) is introduced to the gang neighbourhoods by an experienced veteran (Denzel Washington's Alonzo). And, as crime thrillers go, this is a pretty damn good one.
What really sticks out about it is how the two leads' relationship progresses from good-humoured banter to downright horrific disillusionment in the first two acts. Jake is the by-the-book, ethical cop, the character whose morals we can identify with. But as things progress and he sees Alonzo acting more and more like the common criminals, which Alonzo insists is required to understand them, we become just as anxious as he does.
Also, on a side note, I'd heard that Gary Sinise was considered for Denzel Washington's part, so while I was watching it, I kept imagining him in the role. And, honestly, as much as I love Gary Sinise, I just don't think he would have worked as well.
Sadly, the third act is where the movie lost me. It culminates in an action climax that feels completely tacked on. We can certainly understand Jake's motivation, and maybe you can kind of deduce Alonzo's, but it still doesn't make much sense for them to be at each other's throats like that.
It's a shame that that last act tarnishes a previously great movie.
My rating: 75%
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An overrated movie
Posted : 9 years, 10 months ago on 11 June 2014 02:05After hearing so many great things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. Indeed, with this movie, Denzel Washington managed to win the Academy award for the Best Actor in a Leading Role which was the crowning of a stellar career. With this in mind, I thought it would be a great movie and I had some rather huge expectations. Unfortunately, I thought the whole thing was slightly underwhelming. I mean, it is a solid flick, no doubt about it, and Denzel Washington, who was finally playing something else than his usual righteous guys, was just terrific. The mood was also very well done and they even managed to shot on location in some of the most infamous neighborhoods of Los Angeles. So, what was my problem with this flick? The main issue was with the timeline which was rather unbelievable in my opinion. Indeed, you are supposed to believe that everything that happens is supposed to take place in one single day. I mean, seriously?!? If it would have been spread other 3 days or a whole week, it would have been fine but to put all this in one day was just rather preposterous. To make things worse and even more gimmicky, all this happened in the very first day of the rookie cop played by Ethan Hawke. Again, seriously?!? Iโm pretty sure that most cops wonโt see so much action in her first 10 years in the police force so that was also rather unbelievable. To conclude, even though I think it is seriously overrated, it remains a decent watch and it is still definitely worth a look, if only to see Denzel Washingtonโs amazing performance.
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Training Day review
Posted : 10 years, 2 months ago on 3 February 2014 12:41Very solid acting all-around. Nice to see both leads slowly break down over the course of the movie. Suspenseful and not a boring minute.
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Training Day review
Posted : 12 years, 10 months ago on 17 June 2011 09:53One hell of a movie! Its one of those movies that makes you think how crooked the system just is.
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Perfect Movie
Posted : 16 years, 11 months ago on 20 May 2007 05:39Everything about this movie is right on point to some degree. Yea for anyone who actually lives in california or in this case some parts of california its close to what is going on. But that goes for pretty much everywhere.
The script was good and i'm pretty sure Denzel had alot fun working. And Ethan Hawke was good too. I really did enjoy this movie, and i didnt find any flaws in it.
And for the first time ever, there wasnt any sex scenes in it haha. Which was a plus too me, because sex in action movies dont mix.
The script was good and i'm pretty sure Denzel had alot fun working. And Ethan Hawke was good too. I really did enjoy this movie, and i didnt find any flaws in it.
And for the first time ever, there wasnt any sex scenes in it haha. Which was a plus too me, because sex in action movies dont mix.
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