Training Day Review

AUDITORY ELEMENTS
There wasn’t a consistent track that played in the movie but there were sounds of the street (ambient sounds) that helped make up for that. Also, there was rap music to go with the urban scenes. There wasn’t much narration in the film but the dialogue was great. There was much expression and sternness in the way Denzel Washington spoke and helped me understand how much of a low down person he was. Ethan Hawke’s dialogue let me know he was unsure of what to do at first but was a smart man. Their dialogue really got me to believe that they both became their characters.

VISUAL ELEMENTS

The acting was amazing. Starting off with the minor characters, Snoop Doog and Dr. Dre really amazed me being as though they are musical artists and their acting skills were so good. Most singers/rappers who try to go into film that I’ve seen rarely succeeds and this was one of those rare cases. Macy Gray always plays the roles of drug addicts so seeing her in this role was the perfect fit.  Denzel Washington from what I know about him as an actor, he usually plays the “good guy” roles. After seeing Training Day, I began to believe that the “bad guy” thing was for him because he did an exceptional job. Ethan Hawke is an actor who I am really unfamiliar with but as far as his role, he did a good job as playing an officer who would just take orders at first but as the day went on, he grew to not just take orders.

For me, there weren’t really any new camera angles that really “wowed” me. Not that any of the angles were really bad, they just didn’t excite me too much. The lighting worked for me. There were parts where there was a little more exposure than it should have been but besides that, the lighting really worked for me.

(INSIDE THE BODY OF REVIEW: Discuss overall structure of the film)

Act I- Set Up

When Ethan Hawke had the phone conversation with Denzel Washington, we got an idea of what kind of person Denzel was.

When Ethan met him at the coffee shop, it was more clear of who Denzel would be as a character. The conversations between Ethan and Denzel in the car let us know how Denzel felt as about his job which was he felt like he was above the law because he was a top cop.

Act II- Confrontation

This wasn’t shown in the movie, but Denzel got into a confrontation with the wrong Russians apparently which led to him owing one million dollars to them by midnight the following day or he would be dead. Throughout the whole day, he ran a series of schemes in order to get the money he needed which got him caught up in the end.

Act III- Resolution

At the end, Denzel set Ethan Hawke up and left him in an unfamiliar neighborhood. Hawke came and found him and put a good fight with Denzel. Ethan ending up beating him up & shooting him but not killing him, that job was left to the Russians.

I thought this would be one of those movies where the bad guys get away with what they’ve done at the end of it.