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Training day

Threat advisory: Elevated - Significant risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

The only thing more dangerous than the line being crossed, is the cop who will cross it.

A police drama about a veteran officer (Denzel Washington) who escorts a rookie (Ethan Hawke) on his first day with the LAPD's tough inner-city narcotics unit.

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film police crime drugs narcotics raid rookie Los Angeles detective corrupt

Persons of interest

Denzel Washington .... Detective Alonzo Harris
Ethan Hawke .... Jake Hoyt
Scott Glenn .... Roger
Tom Berenger .... Stan Gursky
Harris Yulin .... Doug Rosselli
Raymond J. Barry .... Lou Jacobs
Cliff Curtis .... Smiley
Dr Dre .... Paul
Snoop Dogg .... Blue
Charlotte Ayanna .... Lisa
Eva Mendes .... Sara
Nick Chinlund .... Tim
Jaime Gomez .... Mark
Raymond Cruz .... Sniper
Noel Gugliemi .... Moreno
Samantha Esteban .... Letty
David Ayer .... Screenwriter
Antoine Fuqua .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Training day official movie site
Training day QuickTime movie trailers
Awards and film festivals:

Cinematic Intelligence Agency Trenchcoat Awards 2002
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS - Oscars) 2002: Best actor (Denzel Washington)

See also Chaos, Dark blue
Studios and distributors:

Warner Bros * Roadshow Films

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Good cop, bad cop, but with no criminal to keep them apart.

In everyday life there're too many scumbags around for the good cop to notice what the bad cop is doing (at least, that's what he keeps telling himself). When you move into a one-on-one on-the-job evaluation there's no distraction: it's man sizing up man, being sized up by man (no, sorry folks, there's no homosexual sub-plot). And when you're a cop, you're either bent or you're a rookie. Just ask anyone in Manly.

Denzel Wahington gives a wonderfully bad performance as a pretentious, Anglo-on-the-inside African-American who tries to blend in with the homies but never makes it because he doesn't really want to. At first I thought that it was Denzel giving a bad performance as a homie, but then I realised that there was a sub-plot, that his character looks down on everyone, no matter what the circumstances. That kind of tall poppy is going to be brought down no matter what the cost, in Hollywood, anyway. Ethan Hawke is suitably innocent without falling into the trap of naïveté. The goatee helps with that but it's funny to see so many men wearing beards in the same movie, let alone the two leads. Facial hair has certainly made a comeback since the 80s (not that I ever stopped having it, of course).

As for the evil ways of the bent copper (almost a tautology), Training day presents one scenario as to how the old guard seduces the fresh, young officers straight from the Academy. New South Wales police officers might like to take notes.

The story is, as you might now suspect, quite interesting but there's one great big cheat that no-one will miss. When you unexpectedly save a young girl from being raped, you don't later run into her cousin all the way across town just as he's about to execute you. Co-incidence is one thing, nepotism is another. It's a sign that David Ayer couldn't think of a way to finish the story properly so he took the easy way out, just like his lead character. Bad, bad, bad.

Training day is an entertaining enough film but it doesn't rise above its flaws. See it to reinforce your low opinion of the police service and for some nice violence.