Hey folks, Harry here... Now it seems every year around this time there's a movie that comes out that Denzel kicks major acting kudo ass in, but then... Then the movie is forgotten, or other than him and a few other bright points, it sucked, and the studio behind the film never bothered to push it for nominations or the final awards. Will this performance be amongst those next year? We'll see... but certainly people love him in this movie.

Hola all. Ladies and Gentlemen, there is finally something to be really excited about opening on a screen near you. For everyone out there who has felt that this years crop of films have fallen a little short or lacked that certain oomph to stand the test of time as something to drink in, digest and discuss as all great film should be, there is Training Day. And let me tell you, pound for pound, Training Day is the best film I've seen this year.

This baby grabs you, tosses you around and kicks your ass up and down the street, all the while howling obscenities at you only to leave you broken and torn up in the gutter, begging the film to do it again. And it does. Over and over again. And yet you stay firm. No matter how brutal it gets, no matter how intense things become, no matter how tight your muscles clench as you slowly grind your teeth away into grit, you don't want it to end. And it doesn't; not until you're completely satisfied.

Training day is sheer brutality; there's simply no other word for it. This is the same kind of raw, unbridled assault on the senses that we've seen in such films as American History X, Pulp Fiction and Falling Down. Teetering on the edge for the first 20 minutes of the film, this quickly crosses the line and never goes back. Once this puppy is running, there's just no stopping it.

Boiling this film down to it's essentials, it comes off as a modern retelling of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" set in Downtown Los Angeles, only in this case, Kurtz takes the narrator on a guided tour up the river of urban sprawl and social, moral decay. We see madness and we see reason, and never the two are separated. Essentially, as the name implies, it's training day for Ethan Hawke's character, a young rookie who's gotten a big chance, possible placement in a highly regarded undercover narcotics unit that almost assures promotion at an accelerated rate. Hawke's performance on this one day will decide whether he makes it on the unit. Denzel Washington heads up the unit and is riding with Hawke for the day to evaluate his potential. And it's all downhill for Hawke from there.

Denzel Washington turns in the role that I am convinced will win him the Best Actor Oscar, unless God himself comes down from Heaven and hand delivers a jaw dropping performance that can best this. Even then, it'd be a close race. Denzel is just that freaking amazing. He lends so much depth and energy to this role that we never for a minute fail to understand his character. Yes, he keeps us guessing the whole time, but even then, every move, every gesture, every expression is well thought out and intimated on such a level that he defies the screen, steps out into the audience and scares the living hell out of you. Denzel is every bit the brilliant actor he has shown us to be in so many other roles and yet this is a role you would never in a million years had pegged him for. This is a Sam Jackson role, the kind that you usually know when you read it on the page who belongs in it. But Denzel stepped up to the plate in this and knocked it out of the park. Way out. County line out.

This is not the nice guy America has come to love and film snobs have come to mock. This is not the tough football coach with good intentions. This is not Malcolm X. This is one mean mother fucker, one bad hombre you don't want to cross...or so it would appear. You see, as mean as he seems, as villainous as he comes across at times, he's a thinking man, and he's always two steps ahead of the audience.

At the same time Ethan Hawke gives a fantastic performance that breaks type for him as well. Oh, he starts out the same as always: the nice well intentioned guy with a wife and kid that thinks about nothing but truth, justice and the American way. yeah, that's an Ethan Hawke role alright. But then we begin to see Hawke has a dark side as well, and as his ride with Washington steadily gets harsher and harsher, he meets the coming twists with the most physical role he's ever played. Yes, Virginia, Ethan Hawke can kick ass.

So here's the film's only problem: not enough people will see it. The one thing working against this film is it's strongest asset: two amazing actors breaking type and turning in genius performances that too many people will pencil in on their must see on video list, as "Well hell, it's just another buddy cop movie."

Well, no, the hell it isn't. Folks, this isn't Lethal Weapon. This isn't Downtown or even Rush Hour. These aren't two reluctant cops put together on assignment who uncover a fiendish plot and are forced to work together to save the day. Uh uh. This is an intense character study, performed by two masters of the craft, juxtaposed against the harsh reality of action.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. There's a scene in which Washington and Hawke are fired upon. While Hawke tries to start the car, Washington pulls out two "Big Assed Guns" and proceeds to unload them on their assailants. But this isn't done in the way we've seen scenes like this before. The bullets pop and create their own carnage on your psyche. The bodies don't drop like flies and there's no "John Woo" style through-the-air, both-guns-blazing slow motion sequence. Washington has two guns not because it looks cool, but because it's just plain scarier that way. This is honestly the first action sequence I've seen in years where substance was used over style. You see the chaos that guns going off in a neighborhood causes, you wince at each thunderous crack. For the first time in years, the reality of just how fucked up a situation like that is has been brought to the screen. And it just about blows you back through your chair.

And yet, there is a subtle dose of style in this that gives "Training Day" its own distinct voice. The cinematography is great, but not overpowering. There are no shots that take you out of the film while you ponder just how great the shot is. They are each meticulously constructed to put you in the car and on the streets with Washington and Hawke. This is not the film you would expect from the director of "The Replacement Killers", but it is his film. And he directed the hell out of this. I hope to the heavens that at the very least a best directors nod goes his way, because films this amazing don't happen on their own.

This movie is riddled with twists and turns that blindside you out of nowhere. Just when you think you know what Denzel is up to, you realize you don't. Just when you think that Hawke won't cross that line, he does. And just when you think the movie has ended, drawing itself up in an unsatisfactory conclusion, you find out that it ain't over yet. Remember that series of endings in A.I. that got steadily, progressively worse as the movie kept dragging on and you realized it should have stopped? Well, this has those moments where you think it's going to end, but it doesn't, and it only keeps getting better.

See this film, you just simply cannot miss it. For everyone out there begging for something more from the studios, know that it opens this weekend and that you must be there for it. Forget everything you think you know about these two actors, this director and this film. You are about to be schooled. And you will love every minute of it.

Until next time friends, smoke 'em if ya got 'em. I know I will.

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MaSsAwYrM