Training Day (2001) ****1/2

 

According to an online meme (and what could be more reliable?), the average man thinks about the Roman Empire on a daily basis, sometimes even more. I can't say that's really the case for me, but if you ask me how often I think about the 2001 movie classic “Training Day”, the answer would be, “pretty often!” I re-watch it every few years.

Ethan Hawke plays Jake, a cop hoping to make detective. His big opportunity is a chance to join an elite, undercover narcotics squad. We meet Jake on his first day, the day he will meet team leader Alonzo (Denzel Washington) and basically “try out” for the team. Alonzo shows Jake the streets, introducing him to drug dealers and informants with whom he is cozy, perhaps too cozy. Alonzo is charismatic, with an impressive arrest record, but as the day goes on, his increasingly questionable methods take Jake WAY outside his ethical comfort zone. Jake finds himself torn between his career ambitions and his moral compass.

“Training Day” has an interesting provenance. The screenplay is by David Ayer, whose other writing seems to be decidedly mixed, including some middling stuff like "End of Watch" and "The Fast and the Furious" and some crap ("Suicide Squad"). His script took a few years to get traction. Then came the Rampart Scandal, in which numerous LAPD officers were accused of wrongdoing including framing suspects, stealing drugs from the evidence room, robbing banks, and murder. It was a huge mess, and Ayer's screenplay suddenly seemed very realistic. The movie is directed by Antoine Fuqua, whose work prior to “Training Day” mostly involved music videos. For casting, the film went through a good bit of the “A-list” before settling on Washington and Hawke in the lead roles. Samuel L. Jackson was originally slated to play Alonzo, while Matt Damon, Eminem, Tobey Maguire, Ryan Phillippe, Freddie Prinze Jr., Scott Speedman, and Paul Walker all tested for the part of Jake. The film also features small roles for Macy Gray, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg.

“Training Day” is pretty close to perfect, but one thing about the film always bothers me. Alonzo is supposed to be an undercover officer, but literally everyone in the movie knows he is a cop. I guess we are meant to understand that at this point in his career, his face is largely known, but his reputation for corruption makes the drug dealers trust him, or at least live in an uneasy detente with him. Otherwise, this is just a very well-told tale, told through Jake's eyes, of an idealistic cop trying to find some Black and White in a very murky world of Greys.

4.5 stars out of 5