TRAINING DAY

(September 2001, U.S.)

When I look back at the month of September 2001, it's almost impossible for me to recall exactly which movie were released and which weren't. In the weeks immediately following the events of September 11th of that year, Hollywood was being very careful about films featuring any excessive violence or reference to violence on American soil. TRAINING DAY, I know, saw no delayed release or cancellation because I recall seeing it in a Manhattan movie theater in its opening week. This American crime thriller starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke takes the traditional cop and crime story to new places we've likely never seen before.

Los Angeles police officer Jake Hoyt (Hawke) wakes up to a brand new day to begin his assignment of evaluation by his new superior, Detective Alonzo Harris (Washington), a highly decorated narcotics officer. Alonzo is hardly shy about the fact that he's a corrupt cop on the take, willing to do whatever is necessary to get his job done to clean up the streets. After confiscating some drugs from a group of college kids, Alonzo orders Jake to smoke it. Refusing at first, Jake is forced to comply when Alonzo (literally) puts a gun to his head and citing that Jake's refusal would get him killed on the streets. Turns out what Jake smokes is laced with PCP, now sitting in his blood and could easily compromise him later with his authorities. Despite being rather high right now, Jake still manages to do the right thing as a cop when he saves a teenage girl from being raped in an alley by a pair of addicts. Jake discovers and retrieves the girls wallet afterwards (this pays off considerably later).

Throughout the day, Jake is unwittingly caught up in a series of corrupt busts, seizures, cash theft and the execution of a known drug dealer, for which Jake has been set up at the so-called "hero cop" of the shooting. We also learn that Alonzo is being hunted by the Russian mafia for an outstanding debt of one million dollars he incurred for killing one of their men in Las Vegas. It becomes very clear that Alonzo will use anyone and steal whatever he needs to keep himself alive and pay off his debt with the Russians. This is never more obvious when he and Jake make a stop to run an errand and Jake reluctantly plays poker with a group of gang members, waiting for Alonzo to return from the bathroom. Realizing that he's been abandoned and is now the intended target of the gang members, Jake is beaten and nearly executed in the bathtub when the teenage girl's wallet saves him. The girl, it turns out, is the cousin of the leading gang member. After confirming Jake's story of how he had saved her from being raped earlier that day, Jake's life is spared, though he's still determined to have his revenge against Alonzo.

After a gunfight and chase, Alonzo is subdued, while the entire ghetto neighborhood he has always controlled congregates to watch, refusing to help the corrupt and arrogant Alonzo now in his time of need. Jake shoots Alonzo in the ass and takes the money intended to pay off the Russians, intending to submit it as evidence against Alonzo. Alonzo, however, won't live to see the next day, as he's ambushed and executed by the Russians while driving to LAX airport. Jake returns home, a completely changed man after just a single training day.

From the day that the Los Angeles police officers who beat Rodney King on video were shockingly acquitted in 1992, the police force and their charges of racism and corruption feel as if they've always been a part of my generation's environment. As a totally corrupt (and proud of it) L.A. cop, Denzel Washington shows us just how dark and brutal he can be as an actor, reminding us of the corrupt power, if not evil, a determined police officer can generate in his community. Among the people he controls, he proudly and forcefully declares that he is the police, and that, "King Kong ain't got shit on me!" The film as a whole is raw, gritty and dirty, showing us the city in a way that often reminds me of the New York city grime featured in much older crime thrillers like THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971) and NIGHTHAWKS (1981).

Does Washington go a bit over the top as he ventures into the dark side? Perhaps, but sometimes over-the-top performances (think even Jack Nicholson in THE SHINING) can still win you the Oscar for best actor (though why he didn't win it for his performance in Spike Lee's MALCOM X instead, I'll never know).

Favorite line or dialogue:

Jake Hoyt: "That's street justice."
Alonzo Harris: "What's wrong with street justice?"
Jake: "Oh, what, so just let the animals wipe themselves out, right?"
Alonzo: "God willing!"