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TRAINING
DAY
Training Day is an example of the struggle between good and evil.
Except here evil often appears to be good, as it is represented
by the slick-talking Alonzo, who is usually very convincing when
justifying his actions and decisions.
-Review by Simon Remark
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TRAINING DAY
(2001)
This page was created on October 16, 2001
This page was last updated on
May 17, 2005
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Directed
by Antoine Fuqua
Written by David Ayer
Denzel
Washington .... Alonzo Harris
Ethan Hawke .... Jake Hoyt
Scott Glenn .... Roger
Tom Berenger .... Stan
Cliff Curtis .... Smiley
Snoop Doggy Dogg .... Sammy
Macy Gray .... Sandman's Wife
Eva Mendes .... Sara Hoyt
Charlotte Ayanna .... Lisa Hoyt
Harris Yulin .... Doug Rosselli
Raymond J. Barry .... Lou Jacobs
Emilio Rivera .... Veterano
Produced
by David Ayer (co-producer), Bruce Berman (executive producer),
Davis Guggenheim (executive producer), Robert F. Newmyer (producer),
Susan E. Novick (associate producer), Jeffrey Silver (producer),
Scott Strauss (co-producer), David Wisnievitz (co-producer)
Original music by Snoop Doggy Dogg (song), Dr. Dre (song), Eminem
(song) and Mark Mancina
Cinematography by Mauro Fiore
Film Editing by Conrad Buff
MPAA:
Rated R for brutal violence, pervasive language, drug content
and brief nudity.
Runtime: USA:120
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Trailers
RealVideo (low
bandwidth)
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bandwidth)
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POSTER
Buy
it at AllPosters.com
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Training Day (Clean Version)
Various Artists - Soundtrack - 2001
1. Keep Your Eyes Open (Film Dialogue) - Training Day: The Soundtrack
- Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture (Edited) 2. W.O.L.V.E.S.
- Krumbsnatcha 3. Bounce, Rock, Golden State - Golden State 4. Put
It On Me - Dr. Dre & DJ Quik 5. #1 - Nelly 6. Got You - Pharoahe
Monch 7. Watch The Police - C-Murder/Trick Daddy 8. Dirty Ryders
- The Lox 9. Crooked Cop - Napalm 10. American Dream - P. Diddy
And The Bad Boy Family 11. Greed - Cypress Hill 12. Guns N'Roses
- The Clipse 13. Tha Squeeze - Gang Starr 14. Let Us Go - King Jacob
& Professor 15. Training Day (In My Hood) - Roscoe 16. Protect Your
Head) - Soldier B 17. Wolf Or Sheep (Film Score) - Training Day:
The Soundtrack - Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture (Edited)
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The
only thing more dangerous than the line being crossed, is the cop
who will cross it.
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SYNOPSIS:
Every day, there is a war being waged on America?s inner city streets
? a war between residents, drug dealers and the people sworn to
protect one from the other. This war has its casualties, none greater
than L.A.P.D. Detective Sergeant Alonzo Harris (DENZEL WASHINGTON),
a 13-year veteran narcotics officer whose questionable methodology
blurs the line between legality and corruption. His optimism has
long since been chipped away by his tour of duty in the streets,
where fighting crime by the book can get you killed, and getting
the job done often requires Alonzo and his colleagues to break the
laws they are empowered to enforce.
A gritty,
realistic drama set in the morally ambiguous world of undercover
police investigation, Training Day shadows Alonzo as he tests the
resolve of idealistic rookie Jake Hoyt (ETHAN HAWKE), who has one
day and one day only to prove himself to his fiercely charismatic
superior. Over the next 24 hours, Jake will be pulled deeper and
deeper into the ethical mire of Alonzo?s logic as both men put their
lives and careers on the line to serve their conflicting notions
of justice.
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? Or do we risk our security
by insisting that those empowered to protect us do so within the
boundaries of the law?
At
a time when police across the nation are battling a public image
of rampant corruption, narcotics use, planting evidence and excess
brutality while patrolling the meanest streets of America, Training
Day paints a gripping and realistic portrait of the war taking place
on the urban front lines ? and just how high the costs of this battle
can be.
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ABOUT
THE PRODUCTION
You have to decide if you?re a sheep or a wolf, if you want to go
to the grave or if you want to go home.
? Det. Sgt. Alonzo Harris to rookie Jake Hoyt
Training
Day is a movie that comes straight from the streets it depicts ?
a product of the match up between screenwriter David Ayer, who grew
up in South Central Los Angeles, and director Antoine Fuqua, who
grew up on the rough side of Pittsburgh. Both men are intimately
familiar with the daily, potentially explosive face-offs between
cops and criminals in urban America. ?Our generation doesn?t have
a Vietnam, and we don?t have any external wars, but the war we?re
fighting is within ? it?s inside the very heart and core of America,?
says Antoine Fuqua. ?In communities across the country, the police
are fighting the people and vice versa. It?s an explosive situation
and it?s something that urgently needs to be talked about.?
As
a 1998 Los Angeles Times report on 51 major urban police departments
noted, on average, any police unit can ?expect to have ten officers
charged per year with abuse of police authority, five arrested for
a felony, seven for a misdemeanor, three for theft and four for
domestic violence.? Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia,
New Orleans and Washington D.C. are among the many U.S. cities that
have experienced major police scandals in the last few years, most
involving narcotics enforcement. Los Angeles, in particular, was
recently rocked by the worst police scandal in its history ? accusations
that officers in the city?s high-crime, gang-heavy Rampart division
engaged in brutality, fabricated evidence and told outright lies
in criminal investigation reports, while also stealing money and
drugs from felons.
Rising
young screenwriter David Ayer grew up in this same area of Los Angeles,
where he personally witnessed the ways in which hardened gang members
and equally hardened inner city cops danced around one another.
Long before the Rampart scandal, Ayer wanted to show how it really
is in these war zones within America ? and just how hard it is to
walk the line between cop and criminal in a place where neither
can afford to show any mercy. In 1995, he began writing a screenplay
that would prove to be prophetic.
?I
wanted to capture the rough and raw reality of the law enforcement
mind-set in inner cities and look at where it comes from and also
where it can lead,? says Ayer. ?I wanted to ask the question: ?When
a cop goes bad, what does it do not only to the man but to the community???
While
writing Training Day, Ayer unflinchingly immersed himself in the
day-to-day rapport between gang-bangers and undercover officers
in Los Angeles? toughest neighborhoods. ?I spent a lot of time observing
and talking with people who live and work in these areas,? he says.
?I really wanted to get beneath the surface of what it?s like to
be a cop out here and how the community looks at them.?
Ayer
put most of what he learned about how and why cops use down and
dirty methods into the character of Alonzo, who he calls ?a guy
who?s so good at his job, it?s come at the expense of his soul.?
He wanted Alonzo to be a seductive character, someone you want to
believe in, want to care about, but who exists in a moral gray zone
where right and wrong are no longer clear to him. ?I myself had
many different feelings while writing him,? Ayer admits. ?There
were times when I thought he was the greatest person in the world
and other times when I was furious with myself for writing the words
he speaks. One thing I knew for sure is that Alonzo himself believes
he is right. He doesn?t see himself as evil ? in his own heart,
he has decided that he is doing what is best for everybody.?
As
a counterpoint, Ayer then created the character of Jake Hoyt, the
young rookie who, until this day, had no idea how things really
operate in the streets. ?The interesting thing is that Jake is who
Alonzo used to be. Jake?s a young, daisy-fresh rookie from the Valley.
He?s a guy who became a cop because he really believed in justice,?
says Ayer. ?But the more he sees of Alonzo, who is so incredibly
charismatic and effective and yet a real trickster, the more he
has to question his beliefs until, in the end, he has to make his
own decisions about what?s right and wrong.? Once Ayer had created
his characters, he made the decision to tell the story over one
adrenaline-fueled 24-hour period. ?I am fascinated by the kind of
day a person has where everything is transformed,? he says. ?I liked
the idea that Ethan Hawke?s character wakes up in the morning, kisses
his wife goodbye, goes to work and comes home a different man. He
will never be the same again.?
It
was this gritty intensity and transformational power that drew producers
Bobby Newmyer and Jeff Silver to the script. ?What attracted us
was the incredible level of realism,? says Silver. ?This story hits
you right in the gut with the actuality of what it?s like to be
on the streets as an undercover cop. It?s an exciting ride, sheer
adrenaline entertainment, but it?s also about two men in the midst
of a moral quandary that affects us all.?
Adds
Bobby Newmyer: ?You can really feel that this is a script written
from David Ayer?s experience and knowledge of the streets. There?s
real authenticity here behind an exciting story.?
?In
the end,? Silver concludes, ?this is a movie about choices ? and
it leaves the audience to make their own. It raises some really
important questions: When it comes to fighting crime, is there one
moral code or are there many? Which do we want more: effective police
or police who follow the letter of the law? And can there be any
compromise in between??
The
heat and intensity of Training Day also derives from the urban vision
of director Antoine Fuqua, who strove to bring the audience not
only into what officers experience on the outside ? from chases
to shoot-outs to life-or-death moments ? but on the inside as they
grapple with an amoral world of drug dealers, murderer, rapists
and thieves. Fresh from his stylish thriller The Replacement Killers,
Fuqua wanted to create a gritty, unflinching, fast-moving intro
to life on the other side of the legal line.
From
the moment he read David Ayer?s script, Fuqua had in mind the raw
realism of films such as Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico, but with
his own contemporary street-wise visual style. ?I was immediately
drawn to the script because it reminded me of the great cop dramas
of the Seventies,? he says. ?It?s about something but it?s also
a really interesting challenge for a filmmaker because you have
to take these characters through an incredible amount of action
and transformation in just one day.?
For
Fuqua, capturing the visceral nature of life on the streets was
paramount. ?I only wanted to shoot in real locations with real people
in the background,? he says. ?I want to make it clear that these
are everyday experiences in some people?s lives. The reality of
life for cops and criminals in the inner-city isn?t something we
should hide from ? it?s something we should be talking about and
thinking about.?
Fuqua
came to the project with a street credibility that uniquely prepared
him for what was to come.
?Antoine
Fuqua might be the only director around who can move through Hollywood
and the gritty streets of Watts or Rampart or Crenshaw with equal
agility,? says Bobby Newmyer. ?And that?s what this movie required.?
Jeff
Silver concurs: ?Antoine brought the ability to capture the mean
streets of L.A. in an honest and revealing way, but also with a
visual style that makes every scene exciting ? whether it?s a major
action sequence or just two guys in a car talking.?
The
cast was also moved by Fuqua?s personal passion for capturing the
grace and grit of these often ignored communities. Says Denzel Washington:
?Antoine brings both an edge and a heart to this story that makes
it so much more powerful than your standard cop thriller. He turned
it into something dangerous and important.?
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 Review
by
SIMON REMARK
simon_remark@hotmail.com
Film Reviewer
Simon
graduated from Trinity Western University where he studied film
under prolific screenwriter Ned Vankevich. He prefers independent
and lower-budget films.
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 He's
brilliantly portrayed inspirational leaders like Malcolm X, and Rubin
"Hurricane" Carter. He's usually the adored protagonist that everybody's
rooting for. But in this film Denzel Washington plays a savage, volatile
street narc named Alonzo Harris who's always on the verge of blowing
up. You never really know where he's coming from, or what he's gonna
do next. He's beyond fiery, and charismatic; he's explosive. |
 Jake
Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) is the yin to Alonzo's yang. He's a conscientious,
honest young cop who wants to join the narc unit to rid the streets
of poison, and the killers distributing it. His main objective is
to see justice served, whereas Alonzo believes in "street justice;
letting the animals just wipe each other out." |
| Jake
wakes up at five o'clock in the morning to his nursing wife and beautiful
baby girl. It appears as though he genuinely cares about both his
wife, and his work. She gives him a good-luck kiss before he leaves
and assures him he's going to do great. Jake is concerned with making
a good first impression on his training day. He wants to do well,
so he can eventually move up to detective and essentially move up
in life. |
| Jake
and Alonzo first meet in a small diner. Alonzo is dressed in all black
and sporting ice around his neck; he's a real pimp. Jake tries to
make small talk but Alonzo's not interested. He's more interested
in his morning paper, which he describes as 90 percent bullshit, but
entertaining. Since Jake continually interrupts him, Alonzo puts down
the paper and asks Jake to tell him a story, to entertain him. So
Jake tells him a story about a D.U.I. bust he made that ended up preventing
a murder-a feat he appears to be proud of. Alonzo, however, doesn't
care about the bust. His only interest is whether or not Jake had
sex with the female officer who made the bust with him. |
 When
they leave the diner they get into Alonzo's confiscated caddy. Alonzo
hits some switches and peels out of the parking lot, and Jake's journey
into Alonzo's violent world of drugs and guns begins. Their first
stop is a back street where a 17 year old drug dealer is selling to
a VW Bug full of white college kids, who probably only ever venture
into this neighborhood to buy dope. The kid selling apparently works
for Alonzo by tipping him off whenever big deals go down. When the
Bug pulls away Alonzo and Jake take off after it, cut it off and jump
out of the car with their guns drawn. |
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doesn't bust the kids but he takes the weed they just bought. And
Jake is visibly uncomfortable with Alonzo's aggressive style. But
he's blown away when Alonzo insists he smoke the dope they just confiscated,
which we later discover is laced with PCP. "No way," he says forcefully,
but Alonzo insists that he smoke it, saying that if he refuses gifts
on the street he'll end up dead. Jake continues to refuse until Alonzo
comes to a screeching halt and forcefully tells him to either smoke
it or get out of the car and go home. Even though he is uncomfortable
he wants to make the unit, so he smokes it. The dope later becomes
the catalyst for a homicide that Jake will either have to take the
heat for or be framed for. |
 And
throughout the rest of the day Jake is faced with one unsettling scenario
after another where he is forced to make a decision: he can follow
suit and make the unit, or he can do what he thinks is right and risk
not making it. Or perhaps each scenario is a test to see if he'll
do the right thing. Jake never really knows what to think or do. |
 However,
just when we are completely convinced that Alonzo is nothing more
than a dirty cop, he'll deliver a seemingly heartfelt monologue that
causes us to reevaluate our perceptions of him. He's continually convincing
Jake that he really wants to make the streets safe. And this is why
we never really know what to expect with Alonzo, making Training Day
different than most cop movies. It's driven less by action and explosions
and more by character. |
 Most
importantly, Training Day is an example of the struggle between good
and evil. Except here evil often appears to be good, as it is represented
by the slick-talking Alonzo, who is usually very convincing when justifying
his actions and decisions. Good and weak often appear to be synonymous
with Jake, but in the end it is Jake's honesty that saves him, in
more ways than one. |
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DO
YOU HAVE TO BE A WOLF
Subject: Training_Day
Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2001
From: D.L.
I
saw this film not long after it's release, and I found it to be
a powerful film. Concerning do you have to be a wolf to catch a
wolf--I don't think so. We are all sinner, were born that, and will
remain so until we come to a knowledge of Christ. It is when we
are in our sinful nature that we are the "wolf." After coming to
Christ, we don't lose knowledge of past sins, we take that knowledge
and use it to help other who are where we once were.
WOLF?
Subject: Training_Day
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2001
From: Jason
"You
gotta be a wolf to catch a wolf" - is that true for a Christian?
Does that mean that in order to reach out to non-Christians, to
an extent, you gotta do what they do to understand them - which
would include things like drugs, alcohol, and sex? Maybe you gotta
think like a wolf to catch a wolf, not actually be one.
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OFFICIAL
SITE
Training Day ? 2001 Warner Bros. All Rights
Reserved.
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