Training Day (DVD)

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I came across Training Day a few years ago when at the video shop and it is now part of my DVD collection. I am a huge fan of Denzel Washington and have seen most of his films. I picked the DVD up for £4.99 on Play.com in the summer so it maybe cheaper now. I recently watched the film again as I found my copy of the DVD and decided I hadn't seen it in a while. Here is some info-

Training Day

* INFO *
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Overall I think Training Day is a very well done film. The opening is pretty fast the music starts some titles appear and then we see a sun rising for a new day. I like it when a film starts quick and jumps straight into the action. Also the sun rising background becomes apparent throughout the film showing you what time of day it was. Showing the sun high in the sky and then setting later on in the film. This is a pretty good way to show ... more

~ You Wanna Go Home Or Jail? ~

I came across Training Day a few years ago when at the video shop and it is now part of my DVD collection. I am a huge fan of Denzel Washington and have seen most of his films. I picked the DVD up for £4.99 on Play.com in the summer so it maybe cheaper now. I recently watched the film again as I found my copy of the DVD and decided I hadn't seen it in a while. Here is some info-

Training Day

* INFO *

Directed by- Antoine Fuaqa
Written by- David Ayer
Run Time- 120 Mins
Distribution- Warner Bros
Release Date- 5 Oct 2001
Certificate- 18

~ PLOT ~

The film is based on one single day for rookie LAPD cop Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke). He wants to begin to work on the field instead of a desk job and has asked to join the LAPD Narcotics division who is led by Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington). Jake has one day to train with them and prove himself worthy of joining the team. He rides along with Alonzo for the day to find out what he does on a typical day on the streets. Straight away they stop some teenagers for possession of cannabis and Jake does not like the way Alonzo deals with it as he is violent and threatens them with his gun. Jake is then put in a bad position when Alonzo makes him smoke the drugs or he will kick him out right at the very start, confused Jake does as he is told and goes into a high trance. Alonzo continues to show Jake the ropes taking him to a drug dealers house where Alonzo seems to know the dealer very well. Jake proves himself worthy when cruising down the street he sees a girl being attacked by two men. He immediately gets out the car and restrains the men while Alonzo just watches on. Jake gets a beating but manages to get the men both in cuffs. Pleased with his attitude and taking care of himself Alonzo shows acceptance and then does not arrest the men which totally shocks Jake and makes him angry. He gives them a choice and say- 'Do you wanna go home or jail' and then beats them to a pulp.

As they continue to go about the streets Jake is still in a state from the drugs and Alonzo continues to show how he deals with people, in a very harsh and violent manner. He doesn't seem right to Jake and he just watches on curiously. During the day they arrest a drug dealer for possession and visit the worst place in the city where we find Alonzo has a mistress (Eva Mendes) and a kid. The neighbourhood is patrolled by gang members and Jake finds it odd that they respect Alonzo and let him stroll in. When they finally go into an operation to stop another huge drug dealer Jake is horrified to see what really happens on the streets and sees that not everything is done by the books. Struggling to cope he starts to realise what Alonzo is really like and what people think of him, he thinks does he really want to be the division.

~ CAST ~

 Alonzo Harris- Denzel Washington
 Jake Hoyt- Ethan Hawke
 Roger- Scott Glenn
 Stan Gursky- Tom Berenger
 Doug Rosselli- Harris Yulin
 Blue- Snoop Dogg
 Paul- Dr Dre
 Sara Harris- Eva Mendes
 Sandman's Wife- Macy Grey

I thought the cast was interesting. Obviously having film stars like Denzel and Eva made it a huge hit. As well as this the film included a lot of singers and rappers. As shown above Snoop Dogg plays a dealer which may attract his fans to the movie. I was quite surprised to see that one of the drug dealer's wives was singer Macy Grey. The film has a lot of talented stars in it which made it very successful and gave it a wide audience.

~ Director ~

Antoine Fuaqa is a well known and respected director and I enjoy many of his films. The African-Amercian director started his career in music videos and worked with many leading stars like Stevie Wonder and Toni Braxton. Some of his other films include- King Arthur, Tears of the Sun and Shooter which were all successful films. He mainly does action/ adventure films which include a lot of violence and strong language.

~ Learning about the Streets ~

Overall I think Training Day is a very well done film. The opening is pretty fast the music starts some titles appear and then we see a sun rising for a new day. I like it when a film starts quick and jumps straight into the action. Also the sun rising background becomes apparent throughout the film showing you what time of day it was. Showing the sun high in the sky and then setting later on in the film. This is a pretty good way to show the audience that all this action is in the same day. The music is slow and goes well with the action in the morning as it introduces Jake. Another thing I liked about the film was the filming techniques. There are filters used in times such as when Jake is high on drugs there is a green tint and his vision is shown in slow motion. I think it made it more interesting and so the audience can see what state Alonzo has put Jake in.

The character of Alonzo was interesting. He acts more like a gang member than a cop which is why Jake does not like the way he deals with criminals. He drives a pimped out 1979 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Lowrider which can be highered and lowered. He uses his gun a lot to intimidate them and also threatens them a lot to get what he wants. He states at one point to Jake- 'we are cops we can do what we like'. Showing he will bend rules and does not play entirely by the book. He also wears a lot of chains and looks like a high organised gang member. He is close to the members of the Streets just for the fact he has a mistress in the most dangerous crime part of town. The gangs at first I thought showed Alonzo a welcoming respect but later I can see that they only tolerate him and do not trust him.
Denzel plays the character very well and does a first class performance. There aren't many films where Denzel plays a bad guy and this was an insight on how talented he is. Jakes character played by Ethan Hawke was played well as well. I didn't really know of the actor when I watched this the first time and liked his acting.

There were a lot of realistic points to the film which I liked. A lot of researched had been done to get this aspect and I think it really paid off. Reading about the film afterward it showed that under cover cops worked with the two leading actors to give them pointers on real LAPD life and the use of the real gang neighbourhood gave it a really real life view.
The film was received very well when it was released. Denzel Washington received an Academy Award for best Actor and Ethan won Best supporting actor. The film also grossed a lot of money reaching $104,876,233 world wide which was more than double than the budget for the film.

The downfall of the film is that some scenes did drag on abit, they are in the car a lot of the time at the start and I think some of the conversations could have been cutted down slightly. However there is plenty of action to over rule this and I felt interested the whole way through. It is a fierce and fast police thriller which pulls you into the reality of real life criminals. The certificate is an 18 which is right for the content included. There is a lot of violence and gore seen, a lot of drug references and sexual abuse. So I wouldn't recommend letting your young teenagers watch it.

~ SOUNDTRACK ~

 Cry for freedom- Franky Perez
 Still DRE- Dr Dre
 El Cuarto Eulogio Gonzalez Siaba- Buena Vista Social Club
 Wow Flash- Elvis Crespo
 Last Resort- Papa roach
 WOLVES- MOP
 Rize- The Outlawz
 Letter to the President- 2Pac
 Pull it on me- Dr Dre
 Protect your head- Soldier B
 Ya Mama Ya Mama- Alabina
 Superstar- Cypress Hill
 Amercian Dream- P Diddy
 #1- Nelly

I liked the soundtrack a lot, it gave it a great atmosphere and as seen a lot of the music is done by Dre Dre is has a main part in the film.

~ DVD Features ~

- 1 disc DVD with subtitles in English, Spanish and French.
- Commentary with Antoine Fuaqa
- Additional Scenes
- 2 Music Videos
- Behind the scenes footage
- Alternative ending
- Filmography featuring Denzel, Ethan and Tom Berenger.

~ Extras ~

 The film was marked the first movie to be able to capture real LA street gangs and they were allowed to take cameras into the Imperial Courts neighbourhood which is a public housing area for African-Amercians which is one of the most dangerous areas in LA. This gave it a realistic view of gang life and warfare.
 The café shown at the start of the film is used in many other movies such as- Catch Me If You Can and Gone in 60 Seconds.
 Bruce Willis was originally offered Alonzo- which I found interesting I don't really think it would have looked the part as well.
 Also Eminem was supposed to appear in the film but turned it down to film his own 8 Mile.
 72% rotten tomato

~ Recommend? ~

I would recommend the film to anyone who likes this sort of genre. The crime/ action genre is my favourite so I really enjoyed the film but if you don't like violence, street gangs and bad language it is properly not for you.

Website- http://trainingday.warnerbros.com

Thank you for reading *Blackmagicstar4* Dec 2008 *
Published on Dooyoo and Ciao under same name. 

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