Hey folks, Harry here with another look at TRAINING DAY...
So was yesterday's review a fluke? Has Antoine Fuqua actually made as good a film as we've heard? Well, this review seems to confirm that it is indeed something special. Especially this year. But never fear folks, the summer is almost over and with the fall comes... so will intelligent, well thought-out films...
Harry and everyone else at AICN,
I saw a test screening for TRAINING DAY a few weeks ago in Pasadena. I wasn't going to write about it, for the same reason the last reviewer had for not doing so (until he did, of course): I figured someone else would post a better review. But I've only seen one other review so far, and this movie deserves to gather up some early buzz. It was a workprint with no open or end credits (except for the Warner Bros./Village Roadshow Pictures that appeared at the beginning) featuring temp music from THE INSIDER and TRAFFIC.
Ethan Hawke plays a cop who has been promoted to a narcotics enforcement team. It's his first day on this new detail, and the leader of the team (played by Denzel Washington) shows him the ropes, how things are done, etc. Of course, we see that Washington's character doesn't do things "by the book". Some of this is played for laughs, and some of it is pretty disturbing, in many cases at the same time; Washington confiscates marijuana (or so he claims it is) from some college kids looking to score in the wrong part of town, only to smoke it himself a while later. His reason being that if you want to know narcotics, you must get to know narcotics. Of course, Hawke balks at the idea until Washington forces him at gunpoint to take a toke. Throughout this movie, Washington does some pretty nasty things but is very sincere about his reasons for doing so. He obviously tries to get this through to Hawke's head, for his own good. But is he right? Are the ends truly justified by the means? The audience is left to answer that question themselves for most of the movie. That is until the final act when all true colors are revealed and we are then given a good guy/bad guy situation, which sort of diminishes the power of the storybut it still manages to be very entertaining. I found the use of an Albert Einstein quote at the end to be a very stupid choice (too self serious) and hopefully it will not survive the final cut. And there's a moment where someone is asked whether or not he's ever had his "shit pushed in" that seemed to serve no other purpose except to unnerve the audience for no good reason. That particular exchange could be trimmed out and the entire scene could still work. (Pardon me for playing armchair editor, back there)
Antoine Fuqua's direction is at his most restrained here, compared to his last two features, BAIT and THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS. But make no mistake, the movie still has style to burn. It's easily his best movie though; Fuqua proves here that he is only as good as the material, and with TRAINING DAY he had some pretty good material to work with. This is truly Washington's movie though--he owns the audience throughout the running time. His final spiel in front of a neighborhood crowd must be seen to be believed. It's that awesome. It's definitely one of my fave Washington performances and I wouldn't be surprised to see Oscar recognition for him next year.
As for the rest of the cast: Scott Glenn does a fine job, Peter Greene is completely wasted, Snoop Dogg & Macy Gray are pretty good but Dr. Dre was only half-decent at best. Charlotte Ayanna appears in the opening for those interested, but that's about it.
The test audience I saw the film with seem to love the film. Fuqua was sitting in the back, along with his wife Lela Rochon. A bunch of executive types were surrounding him afterwards, acting very ecstatic about the audience reaction. They were very sure it was going to make lots of money. But then again this was only from one audience reaction, and we've all seen many a film get great test audience reactions only to wind up DOA at the box office.
Overall, TRAINING DAY is a very entertaining movie which should stand out if the year continues to be as disappointing as it's been. At the very least, it's worth watching for Washington's performance. I highly recommend it.
Call me Peyton Westlake.
