MOVIE OF THE DAY: TRAINING DAY

Fully agree, Nick. Great movie. Actually just watched this the other day for some random reason and found out it still held up well. I can still get just as into it as I did when I first saw it in the theater. Let's not forget Ethan Hawke. I always forget he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for this film.

Also, I love that peanut butter story.

It's a damn great movie. I remember practically dragging my friend to see it, (I hadn't seen it yet, but it looked like a good movie) and we both liked it a lot. That's one of the few times I immediately knew that a movie would get Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor nominations.

Tom Berenger/Raymond J. Barry/Harris Yulin are great as the 3 wisemen, but we can't forget about Denzel's cop squad of character actors. Nick Chinlund, Richard Greico, and Peter Greene!

I have no idea what people are thinking when they say that Denzel didn't deserve the Oscar here. He is an absolutely ferocious force of nature here, easily the best work he has done in my estimation.

Some truly great central performances no question but for me the leap of faith it takes to believe the outrageous coincidence that Ethan Hawkes characters life is saved because he happened to save the little sister of the guy who's about to murder him in the bath tub has always been simply too tenuous and neat that it feels like a scriptwriting cheat from a storyteller that backed themselves into a corner they had no idea how to get out of and so chose the laziest way possible.

It was and is so jarring for me that it takes me right out of the movie, reducing what should be 'brilliant' to merely 'good' - and that's a damn shame.

Washington and Hawke are seriously brilliant tho, so much so that I wish I could look past the massive enjoyment speedbump right at the beginning of the third act. I've tried to, a few times even, but I just can't.

I was okay with that save, because it worked well enough on a thematic or philosophical level in comparing Hawkes' character to Denzel's.  It's karma I suppose.

The Russian driveby, even though it was set up throughout the day of Washington's character needing the money seemed lazy.
 

Denzel and Ethan Hawke are great, but it always sort of bothered me that the movie seemed to play Washington's character as more "scary black man." rather than "Scarily crooked cop." and stuff like the hydraulics on his car made me cringe. Also, the ending is bullshit and feels like it was mandated by a studio exec or focus group who thought Denzel's bad cop should pay for his sins at the end when it would have been more realistic if he lived.  Also don't like the reason why Hawke's character was saved from death. Washington totally deserved that Oscar though, he was crazy charismatic and great in it.

I don't have a problem with the ending for both Hawke's and Washington's characters. Both work, one thematically and one plot wise.

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Originally Posted by stelios 

I don't have a problem with the ending for both Hawke's and Washington's characters. Both work, one thematically and one plot wise.

It's not the ending I take issue with,just how they get there. It's textbook 'bad screenwriting'.

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Originally Posted by The Rain Dog 

Quote:

Originally Posted by stelios 

I don't have a problem with the ending for both Hawke's and Washington's characters. Both work, one thematically and one plot wise.

It's not the ending I take issue with,just how they get there. It's textbook 'bad screenwriting'.

I think The Shield takes the idea of an alpha dog crooked cop and does it much better than Training Day. Vic's fate is a lot more interesting and thematic than a simple death.

Without Training Day there is no Shield.

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Originally Posted by Cameron Hughes 
I think The Shield takes the idea of an alpha dog crooked cop and does it much better than Training Day. Vic's fate is a lot more interesting and thematic than a simple death.

Definitely agree with this. That look on his face as he's being led through the cubicles, you know Vic would rather take getting gunned down in the middle of the street like Denzel. Truly the proverbial "fate worse than death". God, Chiklis was an expression MACHINE (I'm happy for him that he's got a nice little earner on that ABC show, but I've seen a few eps and it's like his nuts have been cut off)
 

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Originally Posted by Nick Nunziata 

Without Training Day there is no Shield.

And Dirty Harry, of course.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cameron Hughes 

Denzel and Ethan Hawke are great, but it always sort of bothered me that the movie seemed to play Washington's character as more "scary black man." rather than "Scarily crooked cop." and stuff like the hydraulics on his car made me cringe. Also, the ending is bullshit and feels like it was mandated by a studio exec or focus group who thought Denzel's bad cop should pay for his sins at the end when it would have been more realistic if he lived.  Also don't like the reason why Hawke's character was saved from death. Washington totally deserved that Oscar though, he was crazy charismatic and great in it.

If I recall correctly, it may have been a "Denzel mandated" thing. He spoke of insisting that the character die badly as an eye for an eye Christian thing, but I can't quite remember if it was in response to the character initially surviving the story, or just a desire to intensify the death (I think the former).