Training Day Analysis

Training Day

Directed by: Antoine Fuqua

Written by: David Ayer

Available on Netflix

Oscar for Best Actor in a leading role, for Denzel Washington.

This film follows two LAPD officers, for a time span of 12 hours. In spite of it being in a span of just 12 hours, it is no less than a character study of Alfonzo Harris, played by a brilliant Denzel Washington. Alfonzo Harris is a corrupt cop, at the beginning he seems like a vigilante and that he knows what he is doing. Officer Jake Hoyt, played by Ethan Hawke, is recently out from the academy and has the right intentions, probably like Alfonzo when it was his first day. Alfonzo is such a dangerous character, that even if he betrays you twice he can get back your trust the third time by talking. He has that skill where he can make you give him the gun you point at him, any given day. He tells himself and makes others believe that everything that he does is for the greater good and if done in the limits of law, what he does won't be possible. I can't recall watching such a manipulative character, the best part is that we understand these many things about the character by just travelling with them for 12 hours. All the scenarios that are created, are used in some way or the other to explore the character further and no scene or character is useless; a brilliant script by David Ayer.

There are minimalist action pieces, fights between the two and the whole film at the end of the day feels like a drama between two people. The crafts: cinematography, editing are done in a way where we don't recognize any of them in solidarity except the color of the film, which tries to take us into a rustic noir world. Alfonzo Harris keeps saying Jake that he thought that he was man enough to take it; masculinity is related to being heartless in this context. I kept wondering if I should be putting my righteous millennial mind to judge these characters based in a movie made in the early 2000s. My answer to myself was; NO. They are humans, and they aren't participating in a reality show where they are their best versions and where they know that every word of what they say is bound to scrutiny. I'm not saying I didn't find Alfonzo uncomfortable, of course I did, I won't go like he's a toxic male, I'm not going to listen to whatever he is going to say or do now and this movie should be banned. If you do that you will miss the seductive, manipulative nature of him. I almost felt relieved when it was revealed that Alfonzo is a bad guy, because I was feeling so uncomfortable where I didn't know what to feel for him; such a complex character. In 2003, AFI named Alfonzo Harris the 50th greatest screen villain of all time in its list AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes & Villains; check out that list by the way.