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Traveta reviews
Warner Home Video
- Cert: R
- Cat.no: 21962
- Running time: 122 minutes
- Year: 2001
- Pressing: 2002
- Region(s): 1, NTSC
- Chapters: 28
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English, French
- Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: No
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: $26.98
- Extras: HBO First Look: The Making of Training Day, audio commentarywith director Antoine Fuqua, additional scenes, alternate ending, 2music videos, cast and crew highlights.
Director:
- Antoine Fuqua
Screenplay:
- David Ayer
Cast:
- Alonzo Harris: Denzel Washington
Jake Hoyt: Ethan Hawke
Roger: Scott Glenn
Smiley: Cliff Curtis
Paul: Dr. Dre
Sammy: Snoop Dogg
Stan Gursky: Tom Berenger
Few words can describe a movie like Training Day.To me, it came out of left field. I didn’t go see it at theaters last September and the DVDrelease date in April crept up on me without me even taking notice. Buton street date, I decided to pick it up, if only a rental. When Iwatched it I was totally blown away by it. I planned to buy it but gotsidetracked by other DVDs. Now, four months later I found itpre-viewed at Blockbuster for ten bucks! Denzel Washington is great inthis movie. I would have to say one of the best acting jobs I’ve seenwith James Cagney’s portrayal in White Heat being the only filmexception (if it was TV I would mention Kramer from Seinfeld as a greatactor). Denzel is backed by other outstanding acting from Ethan Hawkeand Scott Glenn. When Denzel won the Oscar for his portrayal of the copgone bad, I was not suprised. If you don’t like this type of street movieat least rent it for Denzel’s and everyone else’s acting (well the fewrappers in the movie aren’t that great though).
Training Day tells the story of cop in training, Jake Hoyt (EthanHawke) who gets paired with rogue cop, Alonzo Harris (DenzelWashington). To say he is a rogue is an understatement. Wait till yousee the stuff he does in the movie, Alonzo takes Jake on a crash courseof what being a cop for the LAPD is really about and shows him theunderbelly of the world he thought he knew. Great twist towards the endand cool moments make this movie stand out. I don’t want to spoilanything for you. Watch it and you won’t be disapointed.
My only gripe is that sometimes I couldn’t grasp the underlining plot.The main story is just Hoyt going through a typical day with Alonzo buttheir is another plot about money laundering. I would givethe film’s content a perfect five if it weren’t for the sometimesconfusing storyline.
Into the disc. The video on the disc is a very good transfer fromWarner. Solid colors are very deep and the actors are sharp. Flesh tonesare right and the transfer just has a nice feel to it. Stuff likecompression artifacts are very hard to notice.
The sound is top notch as well. Very audible throughout and whenaction pops up it is very booming. Music and sounds of the street fillthe soundtrack. Not too shabby.
The extras are the only thing that brings it down a bit. It’s not barebones but it just doesn’t feel like they took the DVD too seriously. Theaudio commentary only features the director – would have been nice forDenzel or Ethan to be in there as well. The deleted scenes are verydark. I know they’re not going to be up to quality with the film’s coloras they are probably from work print and the whole fact of compressionbut still.
The documentary is somewhat interesting but the most horriblething is the second music video. I think it was called Got You and itfeatures the singer dressed like Denzel and another guy dressed likeEthan. Thank God they didn’t show this that much because it would havemade the movie look really bad. The alternate ending is not presentedin good quality and is not different until the last few minutes. I knowWarner is capable of more than this.
Overall, I wholeheartedly recommend Training Day. It is a great moviethat I think could be watched several times over. I’m thinking aboutwatching it again real soon. This is acting in it’s best and Hollywooddoing a good job.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALLEmailTraveta
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.