Training Day (2001)
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Reviews Counted: 155
Fresh: 111 | Rotten: 44
The ending may be less than satisfying, but Denzel Washington reminds us why he's such a great actor in this taut and brutal police drama.
Average Rating: 6.3/10
Critic Reviews: 37
Fresh: 26 | Rotten: 11
The ending may be less than satisfying, but Denzel Washington reminds us why he's such a great actor in this taut and brutal police drama.
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Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 267,222
My Rating
Movie Info
The Fast and the Furious (2001) screenwriter David Ayer follows up that fast-paced action hit with this gritty cop drama from director Antoine Fuqua. Ethan Hawke stars as Jake Hoyt, a fresh-faced Los Angeles Police Department rookie anxious to join the elite narcotics squad headed up by 13-year veteran Detective Sergeant Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington). Harris has agreed to give Hoyt a shot at joining his team with a one-day ride-along during which Hoyt must prove his mettle. As the day wears
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Cast
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Denzel Washington
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 -
Macy Gray
Sandman's Wife -
Charlotte Ayanna
Lisa -
Nick Chinlund
Tim -
Jaime Gómez
Mark -
Raymond Cruz
Sniper -
Noel Guglielmi
Moreno -
Eva Mendes
Sara Harris -
Sarah Danielle Madison
Female Passenger
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All Critics (160) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (116) | Rotten (45) | DVD (37)
If he makes it through the trial by fire -- and a blandly twisting plot with no meaningful revelations or substantial themes -- Hawke will get a promotion, but there's nothing in it for us.
Director Fuqua keeps it slick and sleazy and stokes up the race some, but this only accelerates the movie's deafening rush toward the top and ever over.
Top CriticOn a purely visceral level, Training Day is easily the most exciting movie out there right now, but as a morality tale with anything large on its mind, it's a cop-out.
Training Day isn't just one of the finest cops-and-robbers thrillers of recent years, full of devious twists and gut-grinding tension, but it also steers clear of convenient moral formulas.
Training Day is a tense, polished, well-made action thriller that suffers from bad timing.
As usual Washington is astounding. He grabs the screen like a vise and never lets go.
Great performances, but for adults only.
A surprisingly excellent movie with Incredible performances...
The movie moves rapidly, is extremely violent and not entirely plausible.
This isn't a serious movie, despite Denzel Washington in full eruption and giving his calloused lines more weight and authority than they deserve.
My guess is that the conceit was meant to be that Denzel's a bad guy, and that's fun to watch. Instead, this just adds another to his list of bad film's he's acted in...
Cast against type as a corrupt cop, Denzel Washington, usually seen in noble and heroic roles, is nothing short of brilliant; with some luck, he should earn an Oscar nomination.
Marred slightly by an unsatisfactory climax, this is a cracking cop drama anchored by great performances and intelligent direction from Fuqua.
...the more detail there is in a frame, the better the picture looks. (HD-DVD Edition)
Thumbs up, without question. Unfortunately, Training Day could have been so much more than it is.
Denzel Washington delivers a remarkable performance in this enthralling and unique tale of a corrupt cop, completely transforming himself into an unexpectedly imposing threat.
...an intelligent and riveting action movie that doesn't rely on a lot of special effects to tell a genuinely interesting story.
While most critics have chosen to highlight Washington's performance as the standout, it would be unfair not to mention Ethan Hawke, who plays the rookie Hoyt with a perfect patina of guileless enthusiasm.
Audience Reviews for Training Day
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Alonzo Harris: You gotta be a wolf to catch a wolf.
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- Jake Hoyt: You gotta control your smiles & cries because that's all you have & nobody can take that away from you.
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- Alonzo Harris: You wanna go to jail or you wanna go home?
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- Alonzo Harris: It's not what you know, it's what you can prove.
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- Alonzo Harris: This is a newspaper right? Its 90% bullshit, but it's entertaining. That's why I read it because it entertains me. YOU won't let me read it, so you entertain me with your bullshit. Tell me a story right now, go...
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- Alonzo Harris: Hey, hey, hey. You wanna go to jail or you wanna go home?
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Foreign Titles
- Training (DE)
- Training (UK)
