A rookie cop, Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) joins the police force as a narcotics officer.  He eventually hopes to prove himself and become a detective.  On his first day, he is assigned to Detective Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington) to undergo training.  Harris says he will give Hoyt exactly one day to show him what he's made of.

Jake has great respect for Harris because Harris is one of the top detectives in the force.  But to his horror, Harris also turns out to be one of the most corrupt, twisted and mean cops he will ever see!  Harris steals money, steals drugs from drug pushers, makes Hoyt smoke PCP-flavoured marijuana, and literally takes poor Hoyt through hell on his Training Day!  Harris' philosophy - to be a good cop, you have to have a little dirt on you - to protect the sheep from the wolves, you must be a wolf yourself.  He tells Hoyt that his way of dealing with criminals may seem disturbing, but it's the only way to reach the top - and once Jake gets to the top, that's when he will be able to change things.  Hoyt must decide whether to stick to his ethics, or do things Harris' way.

When I saw the trailers for the movie and later learnt that it was directed by Antoine Fuqua (who made The Replacement Killers - a good but by no means great movie), my expectations were not very high.  But then I read a few reviews of this movie on the net and they all said it was good.  Also, I was interested in seeing how Denzel Washington won the Best Actor Oscar over Russell Crowe (who gave a fantastic performance in A Beautiful Mind).  And when I finally saw the movie (on my birthday this year, May 15), I was completely blown away.  Training Day was an awesome movie with brilliant acting from both the two stars.  It was tense, realistic and very disturbing (it contains some very brutal violence - especially in the end).  In fact I kept thinking of this movie as my father was driving us home from the theatre - and that disturbed feeling was still with me for quite a while.  I've seen this movie about three times so far (I've bought the Video CD) and I like it more each time I see it.  There is a lot of emotion in this movie (but not in the conventional sense).  I liked the way the movie dealt with ethical issues - when in a difficult situation, what do you do - do you break rules but come out as a hero, or do you stick to your ideals and put yourself in danger?  How do you react when a person you respect is himself corrupt and tells you to do things his way?  As you might have guessed, Training Day is an intense movie, a must-see in my opinion.

Running Time: 120 minutes | Country: US | Genre: Crime/Drama