Training Day (Snapcase Packaging)
|
List Price: Our Price: $0.93 You Save: $14.03 (94%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Training Day (Snapcase Packaging)
Movie Review: "Boom."
Summary: 5 Stars
Most reviewers have already discussed Denzel Washington's powerful performance as rogue cop Alonzo Harris, so I won't waste anyone's time by being redundant. What I will say is that "Training Day" is the film which made him my favorite screen actor, and by doing so, has made the film one of my all-time favorites itself. But it's a shame that a lot of people fail to mention Ethan Hawke, who contributed much to the intensity of the movie. Think about it. When Jake was forced to fend for himself at the hands of the Hillside trio, one look at his face and you actually feel for his character. When he's invited to sit down and play some cards, he's scared to death, but tries desperately to hide it. When he's pulled into the bathtub, you're on the edge of your seat aching for him to find a way out. His nervousness throughout the entire film is apparent, and some of "Training Day's" most intense moments would not have been pulled off so successfully had it not been for his bravura performance. I'm very glad he was nominated for best supporting actor.
Music lovers will see three of the most popular music artists alive in the film. Macy Gray makes her film debut as a 'hood rat, and I must say she pulled it off quite impressively for a first-timer. Snoop Dogg appears as a paraplegic drug dealer, and while at times he goes a little overboard with over-acting, he did pretty well. As for Dr. Dre, he's almost as bad as Nas was in "Belly."
Antoine Fuqua, who directed "the Replacement Killers" and the underrated "Bait" is becoming increasingly better with each movie he makes. Some of the visuals in "Training Day" are surrealistically stunning, especially the establishing shot of the "Jungle" area. You feel just as uncomfortable as Jake does, but Alonzo takes us for the ride regardless.
The script is also pretty good and manages to dish out some really great dialogue. Case in point: Alonzo and Jake's conversation in the Monte Carlo after the "Roger incident."
Truly, folks, this is one of the best cop thrillers to come out in a long time. To those who say that "Training Day" would be mediocre at best without the presence of Denzel Washington, I think they're wrong. While he does deliver one of the best performances I've ever seen, it can't be a bad movie when the only scene without him turns out to be the most powerful and nerve-wracking (the Hillside scene).
The DVD is okay, but I wanted more. The "Making-Of" documentary is only 15 minutes and the alternate ending is nothing special, but the deleted scenes are great. I especially liked the scene where Alonzo talks to Jake about witnessing a man beating a dog. Antoine Fuqua's commentary gives you plenty of information about some of the hidden messages in "Training Day;" I was namely suprised to find out just exactly why Alonzo asked the rape victim where she was from. It's chilling. The DVD also features two music videos by Nelly and Pharaoh Monch. There's also of course the cast & crew filmographies.
I've seen this movie twice in theaters and four more times on a bootleg VHS tape. When the DVD was released, it almost felt like Christmas for me. I really loved this movie. If you see it around, BUY IT, because it's become a hot seller here and is already sold out in every movie store I've been to. That speaks for itself.
Movie Review: On Antoine Fuqua
Summary: 5 Stars
What I was most impressed with with this movie was the commentary by Antoine Fuqua. It is the perfect introduction to someone whose voice clearly shows that this is a man with a caring mind. On the contrary, I have done enough drugs (I'm now on anti-psychotics) that I believe we lose that voice the deeper we go into it. I'm out of touch. This guy simply wants to do his job, and I'm not sure he'd want anyone discussing whether or not he cares about people, but honestly, I think he knows it enough to set an example for people before they decide to make the mistakes I did. That is what he does extra. He didn't have to set an example, and we need people to come to terms with the problems drugs create. Sometimes we don't know these things until it's too late, after we ourselves have made the mistake of doing it. I've been in and out of the hospital for suicide attempts after hearing voices and finally wrote a novel that may publish. I have a lot of faith in the story, which is full of metaphors to my life, and I'd like to share it with people. It's emotionally charged. I believe people in this line of work agree that that is the route we need to go. I applaud the creators of Six Feet Under for their efforts in that, and of course after watching Training Day, my head turned in a new direction. All of it caught my attention and brought me to want change in my life so that I could bring change to others. I honestly felt closer connected to these people. I describe one of my lead characters in my novel as a sort of Ethan Hawke, and I did identify most with his character in this movie. Antoine deserved recognition here if through his work is the only way. I would imagine many people who know him take to his warmth, his honesty, and the charm he has as someone to care about, someone perhaps other than him who struggles. To be connected to people in that way is not an easy path. I don't have an easy mind to it, but at first glance I admit it seems important. I guess I can say this much: I didn't have the right friends to know what I was doing wasn't right, and to see someone who is doing the right thing really changed me. We are lucky to have these resources because in instances like this, these people are a true help. Before the suicide attempts, I had no friends because I was out of school and out of work. But if you're interested, I go by the author name Ian Bradley and am planning on publishing my first one soon. Editing is finished. Look for me sometime. Who knows, maybe I'll come back in touch with people and speak my mind enough that I may share what it is about and what meaning there is to take from it. Again, great that Antoine Fuqua worked with this story, it was great to watch, and the people in it in all their efforts really is admirable. I wish people wouldn't just go to be entertained. It's so ignorant of the larger picture. We need serious guidance. I would venture to say that it is God who graces us with men like Antoine. He has a strong personality and values that seem to match that. Good morale.Movie Review: Welcome the New Age of Police Drama On Screen
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not gonna run my fingers over the keyboard like everyone else trying to write an essay for college, I would'nt really even call this a review. The Academy Award nominated 'Training Day' is a terrific film using the remarkeable dramatic acting talents of both Ethan Hawke and Denzel Washington. It also takes the bar and raises it on gripping content in the dangerous world of police work, in this case narcotics in one of the most dangerous gang regions of the country. Taking place over a 24 hour period, decorated officer Alonso Harris molds and shapes a young, fresh-out-of-academy rookie beat cop (Hawke) into his idea of the LA narcotics officer that will get the job done right. Ethan Hawke slowely learns how rough of an edge the job has, where normal rules of Community Oriented Policing don't apply. In a powerfull scene during a raid of a drug kingpin's home, the line we're all so familiar with between what rules movie cops break and what lenghts are not gone to or discussed..is drawn what has to be the last possible time. I don't think anything done in the future with this kind of film or TV show could put a more surprising and shocking turn of events on police misconduct. Officer Harris' young trainee learns a new and untold meaning to 'Justifiable Homicide', what goes on behind closed doors of well-respected politicians and the cost of actually making the narcotics department work in this day and age...a cost that never makes the news quite the way it happens. I've read so many reviews from these four-eyed computer geek people who will sit here all day with their chocolate milk and tear the plot apart, complaining they 'don't understand why' this and they 'don't understand how' that...For instance the final confrontation in the film before Hawke hunts for his training officer, when Alonzo leaves for dead his trainee with the hispanic drug higher-ups. Not to give anything away, but if you listened to all the dialogue following the raid on Roger..when Denzel can be heard saying "Make sure that bathtubs' clean ya hear?", you can piece together the plot as Alonzo, knowing the family to the young girl rookie Hawke saves from rape on the street, would know that Hawke would explain to the girl's cousin how he saved her in order to save his own life...I mean the movie IS called 'TRAINING Day'. The film produces incredibly well-done performances by both stars and supporting cast, and this could possibly be the LAST great police drama that sets you on the edge of your seat and makes you compare in your head the lies, crimes and daily events of law enforcement within the story to news and real events of police drama on the streets in this country. It holds it's ground, does'nt attempt to make anything seem more comforting to the viewers, and ends on a small audio note SO appropriate to the entire film it almost makes me cry its' so good.Movie Review: Outstanding corrupt cop drama
Summary: 5 Stars
(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon.)
The ending was a bit of overkill. That could be said. And the mano-a-mano fight before the ending was a bit drawn out. That too could be said. But the rest of the film was more than excellent.
"Training Day" is the best of the bad cop dramas that I have seen, and I've seen a few. Both Denzel Washington as the psychopathic bad cop, Alonzo, and Ethan Hawke as the idealistic rookie, Jake, were full out. Denzel Washington won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance, and Ethan Hawke was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. The direction by Antoine Fuqua was superb. The LA street scenes and milieu were as real and vivid as my old buddy Taco Bender. (And trust me, Taco Bender was very real.) The extras in the crowd scenes should get some kind of prize for macho scary. I've been there, and I still have a few nightmares. There are some streets in LA you don't want to walk down unless you are a homey, or a brother, and some other streets you don't want to walk down, period.
Unlike some cop dramas and shoot `em up thrillers, this one was carefully planned, so that the scene in the barrio at the card table, the rook all alone set up for the kill, came across as real because what had happened before was just about the only thing in the world that could have saved him. The LA atmosphere was like a rush, as stunningly authentic in a different way as, say, that in Chinatown (1974) or LA Confidential (1997), but more contemporary.
I wonder how many guys starting in say the sixties or maybe a little before have experienced the kind of initiation that Jake experiences in terms of being fed some dope never before tasted and then "led" on the "trip" by someone wanting to exploit them. Most of the time, for most guys it was an initiation into something other worldly, scary, but something that was only psychological and would be gone the next day. For Jake it was a matter of, first, his livelihood as an idealistic cop, and second a matter of groking to a paranoid view of the world in which the good guys are the bad guys and everything is hopelessly corrupt and there is no good, only evil--and you just found out. And third, a matter of life and death with either acid and grass running all around your brain or maybe PCP and speed, and some suddenly obviously evil person (as Washington so well depicted) giving you the kind of "guidance" you can't refuse. And then finally it is beyond life and death and only a matter of primeval justice and a revenge you must perform.
Look for Snoop Dogg in a wheelchair and Dr. Dre as one of Alonzo's posse cops.
Movie Review: Thrill ride with breakaway performance
Summary: 5 Stars
All right...let it be said first off...Denzel got the Oscar, and no one deserved it more. In this film, Denzel proves that he can play characters who are FAR from being nice guys. Generally, he plays wholesome (or at least semi-wholesome) characters in his films and has been regarded by many as a great actor who, unfortunately, takes "safe" roles. Well, my God...if this film didn't shatter that mold, nothing ever will. Denzel's Alonzo is a foul-mouthed, fast-talking, street-wise demon who runs wild with a gun and badge, abiding only the rules of the street. As for the rest of the film, I loved it. Not a bad performance in it, though Dr. Dre could have done better. Powerful direction, strong cinematography, great script. Yes, I know...there are always detractors out there. Like the guy who says "How do we know Denzel's a cop? No uniform, never goes to the police station...how do we KNOW?" Well...how 'bout that badge, smart guy? He's a NARC, man! Narcs don't wear uniforms...it would kind of defeat the purpose of undercover work, wouldn't it? And as we know from the phone call he makes to Jake (Ethan Hawke) in the opening scene, Alonzo doesn't do roll call. And then there are those who say "He doesn't have to answer to anyone, man...who's gonna believe cops act like that?" Well...me, for one. This is the LAPD we're talking about...probably THE most corrupt police department in the country. And he's a ranking detective with his own division...he can pretty much write his own ticket most of the time...cuz like he says, "It's not what you know. It's what you can prove." And I believe it was the same reviewer who said that Scott Glenn's character, Roger, was Alonzo's "Mystery Friend," and we had no idea who he was until later in the film. I think it's pretty easy to discern from his first scene with Alonzo and Jake that Roger's a retired (or at least NEARLY retired) Narc. We know that from the introduction of his character, as long as we pay attention. And although it all hits you really fast and seems fairly incomprehensible upon first viewing, the subplot with his character is astonishingly easy to follow when you give the film another look. That's the thing. This film moves so fast, it takes a couple of viewings for everything to sink in...after a second viewing, everything is much clearer. Well, no matter what, have a go at "Training Day." My advice is to watch it at least twice. Denzel's performance is so mesmerizing that it can distract you the first time you watch it...and, as I said, it moves pretty fast. My analysis: Five Stars. Best film of its kind to come out of Hollywood in the past five years. Do yourself a favor and see it...twice. Your senses will thank you.