Alternative to What: "Training Day" (2001)

Denzel Washington

Welcome to Alternative to What: a weekly column that tries to find a great alternative to driving to the multiplexes. Based on releases of that week, the selections will either be thematically related or feature recurring cast and crew. The goal is to help you better understand the diversity of cinema and hopefully find you some favorites while saving a few bucks. At worse, this column will save you money. Expect each installment to come out on Fridays, unless specified. 

THIS WEEK:
Training Day (2001)
- Alternative To -
The Equalizer (2014)

Depending on your viewpoint, the choice for older actors to play violent heroes has become the recent trend. With Liam Neeson leading the pack, they have gone into interesting new territory where the violence somehow has a more mature context. Among them is the 59-year-old Denzel Washington, who has made a later day career out of making films about cocky thugs who can control their reputation with nothing but an accent. For better or worse, that is what Washington has become and while it pales in comparison to his younger years, he still remains a dominant presence in ways that not all senior citizens are. In fact, most people will likely not notice him as being that old. He is just so confident in his mannerisms.

With his latest film, The Equalizer, he is once again playing a violent type who must do one last mission. For the most part, it is the same old story with Washington and will likely not bring any new fans in. However, this week I'd suggest going back to a time not that long ago. A time when Washington was just starting to morph into his persona of a rough street master. Before American Gangster and Flight gave us glimmers of his range. I'm talking about another film that he did with director Antoine Fuqua: Training Day.

2001 was a different time in American cinema history and more specifically the Oscars. It was the first year where the winners were predominantly African American. Halle Berry won Best Actress for Monsters Ball. Not too far behind was Washington for Best Actor. It was a historic moment and one that was also deserved because for better or worse, it introduced a wider audience to the violent, psychopathic approach to acting that Washington could do so well. As Alonzo Harris, he played a corrupt cop whose journey through the ghetto one day becomes a surreal look into the violent underbelly of society. With Ethan Hawke costarring, it was a film that violently jolted audiences into recognizing his talents.

For those into police procedural programming, this is likely a favorite. The only reason that I am selecting this over earlier or later Washington is because of its lasting influence. While Washington has been nominated before, it does feel like Training Day is the film that accurately defines everything that he has done since. In a way, it has even shown Fuqua at his peak before making films of more divisive tastes such as Olympus Has Fallen. It was a gritty film and has one of the most confident performances. It was a time when Washington could play cocky and it seemed fresh. Nowadays, it feels like autopilot for a paycheck. There's no blaming him, as the paychecks are nice and his legacy is superb. However, it still feels like a watered down account of this film.

In a sense, The Equalizer has no point in existing. Beyond the bizarre correlation with a reference in The Wolf of Wall Street, it seems like it will be an unfortunately disposable film for the director-actor pair. Even in the trailers, Washington seems bored with playing this role that has come to define him. Most likely don't even know about his legacy prior to 2001. That's a shame, but also fortunate in defining him as a bad-ass of modern cinema. Maybe films like Deja Vu show that there was some charm after the film, but not much could separate it from the high energy, memorable performance that was shown in this film. Hopefully he will come to surprise us again one day. As for this weekend, it likely won't happen.