Training Day
2001, Mystery & thriller/Crime, 2h 0m
162 Reviews 250,000+ RatingsWhat to know
critics consensus
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. Read critic reviews
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Movie Info
Police drama about a veteran officer who escorts a rookie on his first day with the LAPD's tough inner-city narcotics unit. "Training Day" is a blistering action drama that asks the audience to decide what is necessary, what is heroic and what crosses the line in the harrowing gray zone of fighting urban crime. Does law-abiding law enforcement come at the expense of justice and public safety? If so, do we demand safe streets at any cost?
Cast & Crew
Denzel Washington
Alonzo Harris
Alonzo Harris
Ethan Hawke
Jake Hoyt
Jake Hoyt
Scott Glenn
Roger
Roger
Tom Berenger
Stan
Stan
Harris Yulin
Doug Rosselli
Doug Rosselli
Raymond J. Barry
Lou Jacobs
Lou Jacobs
Critic Reviews for Training Day
Audience Reviews for Training Day
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Aug 30, 2013[img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img]Directors C Super Reviewer
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Mar 16, 2013Training Day is a decent film, but let's not deny the main thing keeping it afloat is Denzel. Ethan Hawke doesn't seem like a cop at all, and the script hardly gets you invested in any of the characters. This is not to say it wasn't entertaining: some of the scenes are really tense, particularly in the first half, but the intelligent script starts to wear off later on. Luckily, it does manage to hold together all of it's great themes until the very end. If you're looking for a good corrupted cop movie, L.A. Confidential is better, but Training Day is still worth checking out for Denzel Washington's strong performance.Kevin M Super Reviewer
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Nov 29, 2012It is terribly unbelievable of course but it is so terribly delicious. You can see Denzel Washington just relishing this role and making the most of it. Ethan Hawke can barely stand the pace.John B Super Reviewer
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Feb 06, 2012Training Day is a gripping thriller, despite the fact that it trades in rusty corrupt cop and film noir cliches, plus a wack of borrowed scenes from other movies. This is due to the talents of three men who elevate this into something truly special: Denzel Washington, charismatic leading man doing the best work of his career as a bad guy (he should do more bad ass dudes, and won Oscar for this), Ethan Hawke, who takes on the earnest and idealistic rookie role and makes a meal of it, has never been better, and super talented director Antoine Fuqua, who insisted the real locations and extras, creating a versimilitude of inner city of Los Angeles in a way that has never been done better in a mainstream Hollywood potboiler. The naive rookie coupled with the corrupt veteran has been done a million times, but this works because of the superb chemistry of Denzel and Ethan, and a black humour that coexists on the knife edge of menace. On the down side, the last act and its resolution trades in ridiculous unlikely coincidences that make no sense, but we as viewers are already on board for the ride, so the filmmakers get away with it. For example (spoiler alert) Denzel steals money from his best pal and cruelly executes him just so the greek tragedy is set up for the end. Later, the whole hood, to a man, that Denzel controls conveniently turn against him, for no apparent reason, leading to his demise. Then there are echos of other scenes from better movies such as the Godfather, Sonny Corleone's legendarily brutal machine gun execution which is recreated almost verbatim. See if you can spot others. All in all, a good way to spend two hours, provided you don't expect much originality.Josh M Super Reviewer
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