Training Day (DVD 2002)

One of the finest films to have come out of Hollywood in recent years, this is a professional, questioning, complex piece of film-making.
Ethan Hawke plays Jake Hoyt, a rookie cop hoping to break into the narcotics division. Unfortunately he is teamed up with Alonso (Denzel Washington), who is a crooked cop.

Denzel won an Oscar for his tremendous portrayal of a cop gone bad. At times both charming, yet eerily sinister, his questionable ethics are the focus point of the film, as Hawke gets drawn into this man's crooked world. Some of the situations are unflinching. Does Hawke do what he's told by his commanding officer, or does he do what he know is right?

Hawke's own performance is also Oscar worthy, and it's a shame that he didn't win one. He's also a fine actor, and his time will undoubtadly come. It was also refreshing to see Washington is such a different role to what he usually plays. Trust me, you won't recognise him!

The film is fast paced, and the storyline unfolds throughout the film as more things become revealed. The film has a prevailing, threatening feel throughout, that makes it genuinely hard to pull your eyes off the screen.

My only niggle is the use of rap stars and singers to fill in the support characters. While performing quite well, this element of it was un-needed, and just detracted from the film when you saw a famous rap artist when you're sucked into a believable film. A minor niggle, because you will never see any Macy Gray, Snoop Dog or Dr. dre act better than they did here.

This is an unflinching, moral story, that will really get you involved. The DVD also contains a 15 minute making of that is quite watchable, some rubbish deleted scenes that make you glad they were deleted from the final film and an alternate ending. Two music videos also roudn out the half hours worth of extras, but bizarrely the music vids are not done by any of the musical artists that appeared in the film!