Training Day

REVIEW
Denzel Washington has made a career in portraying likable or, at least, sympathetic characters, bringing to each some shred of human decency. To witness his mesmerizing performance in the intense Training Day, playing a rogue cop with no moral center, is to see a great actor tread in uncharted waters, and it's a startling experience. Washington plays Alonzo Harris, an undercover narcotics officer in Los Angeles, who takes rookie cop Jake Hoyt (a very effective Hawke) under his wing when Hoyt applies for Harris' elite group. In one day's time, Hoyt becomes involved in murder, drugs, conspiracy, police brutality and money laundering: It’s a day Hoyt is not likely to forget. David Ayer's gritty screenplay may border on incredulous in a few scenes (especially a formulaic ending which belies the intelligence that came before it), but for the most part Training Day is an often hypnotic, hard-hitting, dark-edged thriller that goes for the gut.