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Peyton Westlake looks at TRAINING DAY
Hey folks, Harry here with another look at TRAINING DAY...
So was yesterday's review a fluke? Has Antoine Fuqua actually made as good a film as we've heard? Well, this review seems to confirm that it is indeed something special. Especially this year. But never fear folks, the summer is almost over and with the fall comes... so will intelligent, well thought-out films...
Harry and everyone else at AICN,
I saw a test screening for TRAINING DAY a few weeks ago in Pasadena. I wasn't going to write about it, for the same reason the last reviewer had for not doing so (until he did, of course): I figured someone else would post a better review. But I've only seen one other review so far, and this movie deserves to gather up some early buzz. It was a workprint with no open or end credits (except for the Warner Bros./Village Roadshow Pictures that appeared at the beginning) featuring temp music from THE INSIDER and TRAFFIC.
Ethan Hawke plays a cop who has been promoted to a narcotics enforcement team. It's his first day on this new detail, and the leader of the team (played by Denzel Washington) shows him the ropes, how things are done, etc. Of course, we see that Washington's character doesn't do things "by the book". Some of this is played for laughs, and some of it is pretty disturbing, in many cases at the same time; Washington confiscates marijuana (or so he claims it is) from some college kids looking to score in the wrong part of town, only to smoke it himself a while later. His reason being that if you want to know narcotics, you must get to know narcotics. Of course, Hawke balks at the idea until Washington forces him at gunpoint to take a toke. Throughout this movie, Washington does some pretty nasty things but is very sincere about his reasons for doing so. He obviously tries to get this through to Hawke's head, for his own good. But is he right? Are the ends truly justified by the means?
The audience is left to answer that question themselves for most of the movie. That is until the final act when all true colors are revealed and we are then given a good guy/bad guy situation, which sort of diminishes the power of the storybut it still manages to be very entertaining. I found the use of an Albert Einstein quote at the end to be a very stupid choice (too self serious) and hopefully it will not survive the final cut. And there's a moment where someone is asked whether or not he's ever had his "shit pushed in" that seemed to serve no other purpose except to unnerve the audience for no good reason. That particular exchange could be trimmed out and the entire scene could still work. (Pardon me for playing armchair editor, back there)
Antoine Fuqua's direction is at his most restrained here, compared to his last two features, BAIT and THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS. But make no mistake, the movie still has style to burn. It's easily his best movie though; Fuqua proves here that he is only as good as the material, and with TRAINING DAY he had some pretty good material to work with. This is truly Washington's movie though--he owns the audience throughout the running time. His final spiel in front of a neighborhood crowd must be seen to be believed. It's that awesome. It's definitely one of my fave Washington performances and I wouldn't be surprised to see Oscar recognition for him next year.
As for the rest of the cast: Scott Glenn does a fine job, Peter Greene is completely wasted, Snoop Dogg & Macy Gray are pretty good but Dr. Dre was only half-decent at best. Charlotte Ayanna appears in the opening for those interested, but that's about it.
The test audience I saw the film with seem to love the film. Fuqua was sitting in the back, along with his wife Lela Rochon. A bunch of executive types were surrounding him afterwards, acting very ecstatic about the audience reaction. They were very sure it was going to make lots of money. But then again this was only from one audience reaction, and we've all seen many a film get great test audience reactions only to wind up DOA at the box office.
Overall, TRAINING DAY is a very entertaining movie which should stand out if the year continues to be as disappointing as it's been. At the very least, it's worth watching for Washington's performance. I highly recommend it.
Call me Peyton Westlake.
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Did anyone see that eighties flick, "Colors," with Sean Penn and Robert Duvall, because the trailer for this seems oddly reminiscent...
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Have you forgotten RICOCHET, VIRTUOSITY, THE PREACHER'S WIFE, FALLEN, THE PELICAN BRIEF, THE BONE COLLECTOR and last year's REMEMBER THE TITANS (although this would belong more to the so-bad-it's-good category)?
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Wasn't this supposed to be the film that Eminem was going to be a villan in? I am glad that he isn't , might be worth seeing now. I just hope the Curtis Hanson Bio-pic falls through.
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Good job, man. Congrats on the movie, too. :)
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They're both really entertaining. C'mon, Virtuosity has Russell Crowe as Sid 6.7 struttin to "Stayin Alive" and Ricochet has one of the most enjoyably insane climaxes ever. Plus Ice-T is in it!
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is the man and i just hope that this is fuqua's best movie. replacement killers was bad ass, i don't give a shit what you stupid wannabe filmmakers say because fuqua is up there and we are down here so shut the fuck up and leave him alone. anyways bait was a good showcase for jamie foxx, but that movie should have been made without mike epps. dammit i hope this movie makes a lot of money. oh and on another note, you mutha fuckas need to stop dissing directors , because they are just making a MOVIE. who gives a shit if the movie has to have a plot it's just a movie not life or death. you people must get off on dissing famous people but to tell you the truth you sound pretty damn stupid. all those people who loved momento instead of pearl harbor or any other summer movie let me just ask you one question, which movie made more MONEY!!!!!!!! I REST MY CASE DAMMIT. money is what studio heads care about, not substance. well anyway i just wanted to put in my two pennies. maybe i'll see one of you momento loving motherfuckers and kick the shit out of you on sight. because i prefer summer movies than these piece of shit art movies.
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oh wait. this is a message board on the internet - you really can't back anything up, can you? Pathetic. Anyways, Pearl Harbor "made" more MONEY because it cost more MONEY to make. Let's say Memento (which is still the best movie of the summer) cost 5 million to make, but made 30 million at the box office. And let's say Pearl Harbor cost 275 million (with marketing)to make, but made 260 million at the box office. Well, that means Memento still had a better RETURN - and THAT'S what studios care about. Do you think studios enjoy spending 200 million dollars on a movie, when they can possibly profit more while spending 20 million? "Batman and Robin" made 100 million dollars. Is that a bigger hit than "Pulp Fiction", which made like 90 million? I don't think so.
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and "I REST MY CASE, DAMMIT"
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what movie did people rather go see? 180 million dollars to what? oh yeah 30 million dollars. fuck you and i hope micheal bay and all these so called hack directors keep making movies like that and i hope i see you out in the street.
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... That movie with Chow Yun Fat and Marky Mark. the Interigator, the Interloper? something like that. This movie will blow and only will get my money on a slow sunday at the dolla fitty movies. Getting tired of these buddy buddy cop movies.At least Clint Eastwood had a female buddy in one of his Hirty Harry movies.
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... That movie with Chow Yun Fat and Marky Mark. the Interigator, the Interloper? something like that. This movie will blow and only will get my money on a slow sunday at the dolla fitty movies. Getting tired of these buddy buddy cop movies.At least Clint Eastwood had a female buddy in one of his Hirty Harry movies.
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Jul 31, 2001 10:52:57 PM CDT
Sorry, you haven't pissed anyone off. We're all actually laug
by the joker
"What movie did more people actually go see"? What difference does that make, when the movie "more people saw" costs a thousand times more. You said it yourself - MONEY is what matters. And if Pearl Harbor didn't profit as much as other movies, then it is a failure. Why else has it been considered a flop? Jesus, if you're going to say something on here, at least know what you are talking about.
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I liked both "Virtuosity" and "The Bone Collector", and "Ricochet", while mostly stupid, had its moments (John Lithgow practically stole the film). "Fallen" - perhaps Denzel's worst. "Training Day" sounds interesting, but will the general public be ready for Denzel in this role?
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They went to see Pearl Harbor because it was about the incident in our American history. The other reason is that Pearl Harbor got so much advertisement, and stylized advertisement. I would put the fact that it had Ben Affleck, but I'm not sure many Ben Affleck lovin' females were lined up in groups to see it. Okay third reason...that bomb shot. Which signified its performance at the theater. I guarantee a dvd in two weeks. Memento definitely raked in more cash profit, percentage-wise, then that piece of shit.
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I used to get riled up and say shit like "I wanna see you in the street". But that was only after somebody tried to put me down for expressing my opinion, and did it by saying something unoriginal and stupid. This Jetlii is a douchebag who doesn't know where the fuck he is on the internet. Do you come in calling everybody out? Only if you want to (a) get banned (b) sound like a retard. Regardless, everytime Jetlii goes off at the mouth in a talkback, he'll exponentially increase the amount of talkbackers who ignore him. After no one pays attention to him anymore, he'll go away...unless he's a bigger loser than is already apparent, or he's twelve years old. Either way...come to Philly, fuckface. I can make you nice and pretty all over Market Street...
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did your mother teach you that, you must be white, faggot. all i'm saying is that youkids need to get a life and just enjoy a movie. bunch of bitches.
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All you said was that people should enjoy movies? Then where the hell did this come from? - "maybe i'll see one of you momento loving motherfuckers and kick the shit out of you on sight. because i prefer summer movies than these piece of shit art movies". I am going to see Training Day. If it has a decent story, I will probably enjoy it. If it's lifeless and boring (like Pearl Harbor), it'll be another summer of 2001 flop. And to Jetlii's comment how "it's just a movie, doesn't affect us" - yes, it actually does affect me. I don't enjoy spending ten dollars to see a piece of shit movie. And that has happened a lot this lately.
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Cady, did you see the same movie as I did? That movie was a blast in a period piece kind of way. The reason you probably didn't like it was because you probably aint into ensemble casts. That movie had one of the best ensembles I've seen in a while. Even the smallest characters mattered. Denzel was great too. And the movie had a positive message as well; something refreshing in today's day and age. I'm sorry you didn't get it.
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You must be Chinese, faggot. And my mother DID teach me that one. She warned me about weak minded pussies like you. It's okay, though. I'm a patient sort of guy. I'll ignore your weak shit before I get get banned. I advise you to shut your ignorant mouth before it happens to you, if you want to continue this kind of witty banter...which I doubt you can...
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