Training Day

[roger_that]

I like Denzel--he's often the most powerful actor, carrying films that don't really add up, and playing strong parts in films that do. Training Day works better as a scary parable than as a story in itself. It's a nightmare scenario from Ethan Hawke's character's point of view, a descending spiral of bad events that get worse and worse, any one of which he could have prevented by standing up to Denzel's character at any early point and saying, "Hold on, man, you're trying to bait me by your macho ******** into breaking the law. Drop me off at the precinct, I'll report you, and I'll find me another partner, podner," but he decides to continue and finds himself in a world of ****.

The entire film depends on Denzel's playing the overbearing bully-cop convincingly, and it works on that level.