THE MASTERPIECE
Training Day
We reassess the greatest films of all time, one film at a time
Welcome to the party, pal: LAPD narcotics officer Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington) shows newbie Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) the ropes.
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SIX YEARS BEFORE Training Day debuted in cinemas, David Ayer was struggling. He had been trying to make a living in Hollywood by anticipating what studios might like through spec scripts, and he wasn’t deriving much enjoyment — or money — from his work, with not even a bed or refrigerator to call his own. His path to change began in 1995, when he started penning a screenplay for himself about a young rookie cop and a veteran detective in a rough LA neighbourhood. The result is more than just a premier example of the first day at work often being the toughest. From an all-time-great, Oscar-winning performance by Denzel Washington to an ending that film fans still quote two decades after the fact, Training Day is a tense, twisty and masterful police drama.