Training Day

3/4

Starring: Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Scott Glenn, Eva Mendes

Rated R for Strong Brutal Violence, Pervasive Language, Drug Content and Brief Nudity

It's always worth sitting up and taking note when an actor manages to completely dominate the screen.  Sometimes it happens with an unknown actor (Hilary Swank in "Boys Don't Cry" and Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth" are two examples).  Other times it's a famous thespian reminding us why we go to their movies in the first place.  Denzel Washington is an actor of immense and diverse talents.  He won his first Oscar playing a black Union soldier in "Glory," an angel in "The Preacher's Wife," and he did Shakespeare for Kenneth Branagh (he was Don Pedro in "Much Ado About Nothing").  In "Training Day," Denzel plays a corrupt cop.

Not just any cop, mind you.  Alonzo Harris has spent so much time fighting drug-related crime that he has become the very thing he has been trying to stop.  In some ways, he's the classic drug addict.  He's desperate, manipulative, and able to commit violence if it means getting what he wants.  But what makes him truly special is that he's also intelligent and charismatic.  A new recruit like Jake Hoyt (Hawke) doesn't stand a chance.

Jake is auditioning, so to speak, for a job as a narcotics officer in the LAPD.  He has one day, and only one day, to show Alonzo what he is made of.  If he has the stuff, he'll get into Alonzo's squad, and will achieve his dream of becoming a detective in no time.  But Alonzo is not the person that Jake believes him to be.  And if he's not careful, he's going to end up in jail instead of with a rank.  Or dead.

Without a doubt, this is Denzel Washington's show.  Washington has always been a force to be reckoned with, but never moreso than here.  From the minute he appears on screen, peering over a newspaper, he commands our full attention.  Alonzo pretends to be showing Jake the ropes, encouraging him to try some drugs ("a good narcotics agent should have narcotics in his blood"), but that may not be the whole story.  He twists words, motivations and forces Jake into increasingly complicated positions.  This is not a man to be trifled with.  But what really makes Alonzo special is that we don't know if this is due to his belief that this is the only way to do the job, or if it's just plain malevolence.

Ethan Hawke, the low-key character actor that he is, holds his own, but it's always Washington who commands our attention.  Hawke's performance is effective, but a little too low key.  He's the idealistic everyman.  He's willing to bend the rules a little bit, but it isn't long before Alonzo goes too far for his comfort level.

The other supporting actors, which include Scott Glenn, Eva Mendes, Snoop Dogg, Macy Gray and others, are effective, but this is essentially a two-character piece.  Director Antoine Fuqua keeps the focus firmly on them, which is a good thing since the characters are so interesting and their relationship is ever changing.

"Training Day" runs into trouble in its final act.  It's not what happens, but the writing by David Ayer becomes sloppy.  The story doesn't always make a lot of sense towards the end, and the characters motivations become muddled.

Still, this is a good movie, and if anything, it's worth seeing for Washington's positively electrifying performance.