Movie reviews: “Training Day”

Several critics are suggesting that with Training Day, Denzel Washington may be indirectly giving young actors some memorable training in
their craft. Playing a bad guy for the first time, Washington gives what
Washington Post writer Megan Rosenfeld calls a “masterly performance”
and what Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal calls “the
performance of the year.” “He’s positively riveting,” comments Lou Lumenick
in the New York Post. Elvis Mitchell in the New York Times
writes that Washington‘s “powerhouse virtuosity will almost guarantee
him an Oscar nomination.” Only Geoff Pevere in the Toronto Star
differs from his colleagues. Washington, he maintains, “no longer acts
with other performers, he acts at them,” and his character in the movie
“feels about as ‘street’ as a Beverly Hills ghetto.” While most of the
reviews are filled with praise for the movie on almost every level, there
are a number of other dissents. Carey Rickey in the Philadelphia Inquirer
writes: “Training Day is difficult to swallow and harder still to
stomach. It emphasizes the sensational rather than the ethical aspects of
police corruption.” Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times tags the
following “footnote” onto his mostly positive review of the movie: “Will
audiences accept this movie in the current climate, when cops and firemen
are hailed as heroes? I think maybe so; I think by delaying the movie’s
opening two weeks, Warner Bros. sidestepped a potential backlash. And
Denzel’s performance is sure to generate strong word-of-mouth. Second
question: It’s been asked if violent movies will become rare in these sad
days after the terrorism. The box-office performance of Training Day
may provide the answer.”