Rating- * * * (3/5)
The politics of this film are a lot more interesting than the film itself. This film had a decent run at the box office for a couple of weeks in the fall but ultimately fell off the map after other, more buzz-worthy films hit the theaters. Other than a couple of great performances, it was not really that memorable of a film. That is, until Oscar season rolled around. The 2001 Oscars were engulfed in a very political lobbying effort by left-wing activists to convince the public that black actors were discriminated against in Hollywood by not getting any good roles and receiving no recognition for their talents from the Academy. My feelings on this issue are this; African-American actors may in fact be discriminated against by Hollywood studios, but not by the Academy. My reasoning for this is simple; Hollywood studios make almost all their decisions based on what they think will make the most money. Since marketing data shows that the people that spend the most money at the movies are white teenagers, decisions about movies, including casting, is always slanted towards what studios think that white teenagers want to see. So I agree that it may be more difficult for a black actor to get a serious role in Hollywood than a white actor. However, the Academy Awards are given to acknowledge the best performances of the year and good performances always come from good roles. The Academy cannot be expected to vote for an actor in bad role, regardless of the reason the actor took the role. To suggest black actors have been wrongly denied Oscars for their acting for years is essentially saying that the actors who did win the awards only won them because they were white. This is certainly not the case and while the studio casting system should be changed, there is nothing wrong with the Academy voting system. Whew! After all that, what I mean to tell you is that without this campaign to get more recognition for black actors, Training Day would have perhaps faded into obscurity, and I probably would never have seen it. But since I can never pass up seeing a performance worthy of a Best Actor Oscar, I caught this one on DVD and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. The film has a lot more depth and story to it than I had anticipated and it setup one of the greatest performances of the year. The film follows one day in the life of a rookie cop named Jack Hoyt, played by Ethan Hawke. Early in the morning, Hawke meets his training officer, Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington) who’s attitudes and methods are a little unorthodox, but uncannily street wise. As the tow go about their day, they encounter rapes, shootings, and a drug dealer (Snoop Dogg) all of which lead them to a conspiracy by one of Alonzo’s friends to score a lot of money with cooperation from the local cops. Jack expects to handle the conspiracy by making arrests, but Alonzo takes matters into his own hands and uncovers a world of vigilante justice to Jack. Jack struggles with his conscience on whether to follow Alonzo’s lead and move up in the ranks, or stick with the system at the cost of a bright future. This movie confronts a number of issues including police corruption, the morality of vigilante justice, and the ignorance of most white people about the world of black and Hispanic ghettos. Aside from exploring these issues, the movie delivers career-best performances by Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. Washington is particularly impressive as a bad-ass, no-nonsense, self-aggrandizing cop who at one point exclaims “King Kong ain’t got s___ on me!” And he’s right; Alonzo Harris is one of the best bad guys in recent years and Washington delivers a striking and memorable performance. Despite all of the controversy surrounding the film, it is a legitimately good film and is definitely worth seeing.