Training Day (HD-DVD)
Picture: B+
Sound: B+* Extras: B Film: B
In a sea of films and TV shows about good cops without
question, Antoine Fuqua’s Training Day (2001) is a particularly bold
film coming out of its time period, yet was a much more common kind of urban
thriller in the 1970s. The problem is
that most such films were about white males, while the Blaxploitation cycle
absorbed too much of the African American talent on the rise. Some films managed to walk the line between
he two at the time, but they were too often the exception to the rule, like Hickey
& Boggs, reviewed elsewhere on this site.
Like Michael Cimino’s Year Of The Dragon (1985)
deals with youth, power, good and evil within the structures of the police
department and crime world, the always risk-taking Ethan Hawke plays police
recruit Jake Hoyt. He is being
transferred to a rougher section of the city and being partnered with
undercover drug agent Alonzo Harris, played by Denzel Washington. He seems at first not to suffer fools
gladly, but then starts to find little asides to interject as the new partners
get to know each other better. Harris
is going to show the most disturbing side of the streets to Hoyt and
manipulates Hoyt against his better judgment to “test” a drug and see Harris
doing some unethical things for the “effect” of “realism” to be able to go
convincingly undercover.
It is established that Hoyt is not as streetwise as he
should be and Harris knows this, but he stays on as he sees every wrong thing
happen that he has sworn as an officer to fight against. Race subtly plays a role here, but
masculinity offers even more of a reference point, one most critics missed out
on. It informs power in the streets
among those with none, as well as for police, trained to be professionals in
the application of violence for the state as well as the limits of such
approved, monopolized power. The drug
world becomes the wild card, as it is the unofficially sanctioned bad world by the
state, who will only intervene if it threatens that elite. Harris is at least several steps ahead of
Hoyt in understanding all of this and to survive, he will have to learn fast
before things take a turn for the worse.
Cheers to David Ayer’s bold screenplay for not shying away
from those realities and questioning with healthy ironic distance the system
and city as it stands. Some critics and
film theorists thought the ending was a “cop out” so to speak in a way that
pulled away from the themes the film dealt with so well, but this critic would
argue that it is a grand twist and extravagant gesture about a system that just
cannot take the abuse anymore.
Something has got to give and asking that question is in some ways the
boldest of all.
There was a Rap song not too long ago that went on a rant
about racism and offered the line that even Denzel Washington had to play a bad
guy before “they” would give him an Academy Award. Of course, he first won for playing a hero in Glory
(reviewed elsewhere on this site) ands then for this film. Either way, both films proved why he is one
of the best actors of his generation and keep him on the Hollywood A-list, no
matter the commercial missteps he makes.
The 2.35 X 1 digital 1080p High Definition image is one of
the best in the format to date, despite the use of slightly darkening the frame
to create the urban world by cinematographer Mauro Fiore. It does not go overboard in this respect,
unlike most of its inferior contemporaries that gut color and brightness just
for the heck of it. This is exceptional
work.
*The sound is interesting because it is one of only two
titles in the new format so far to offer Dolby TrueHD, roughly the same sound
format as the Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP) format from the DVD-Audio format
(reviewed often on this site) that Dolby has been licensing for years. It actually (supposedly) promises to be up
to three times as clear, but we are skeptical.
For this review, we felt we were not able to adequately test the new
format due to the limitations of current hardware, but will note that with only
Phantom of The Opera the other TrueHD release to date, this format is
only going to work for recent films that are either musical or music rich like Training
Day.
With that said, the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mix fares much
better than the older standard Dolby Digital 5.1 mix from the standard
DVD. Now offering a higher Dolby signal
able to deal with the heavy bass in even this mix, you can enjoy the film the
way it was meant to be heard all along, making up for the lack of DTS on the
standard DVD. Hip Hop and vehicles
playing it loudly and with the accompanying harmonic distortion, including the
doppelganger effect, is much better here.
Mark Mancina’s score also benefits from the upgrade. Sound effects and the soundfield are nicely
mixed and the combination of sound and image will stand up for a long time.
Extras are all from the standard DVD, including an
alternate ending that might not work as well, two Music Videos to push the
film, the original theatrical trailer, additional scenes that are not bad and
another great audio commentary by director Fuqua that I always recommend to
those who love film and filmmaking. He
also did a good commentary on King Arthur (reviewed elsewhere on this
site) and it is nice to hear someone who makes big films be so honest about the
art and craft. Training Day
continues to appreciate as a daring, bold film form a major studio for a change
like the kind they used to make.
- Nicholas Sheffo
