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Directed by |
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Specs |
- Widescreen 2.35:1
- 16:9 Enhanced
- Dual Layer (RSDL 57.09)
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Languages |
- English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
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Subtitles |
English - Hearing Impaired |
Extras |
- Deleted scenes
- Theatrical trailer
- Audio commentary - Antoine Fuqua
- 2 Music video
- DVD-ROM features - Interactual Player
- Awards/Nominations
- Web access
- Outtakes - Alternate Ending
- 3 Filmographies
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Training Day |
Warner Bros./Roadshow Entertainment .
R4 . COLOR . 118 mins .
MA15+ . PAL |
Feature |
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One of the staples of mainstream movies for the past eternity has been the cop buddy movie. Two cops, who at the very least wear their different social classes and philosophies on their sleeves and are often from completely different cultures altogether, are thrown together by either fate or “the chief” and hate each other immediately. But they cruise around in their car catching bad guys (with plentiful one-liners, of course) and slowly getting to know each other. After much yelling, practical jokery, a male-bonding-calibre fist fight and a few shared gun battles, they become the closest of friends, the stereotypical “odd couple”. Done well (as in the earlier Lethal Weapon films) it can be hugely entertaining; done half-heartedly, it can be embarrassing to watch. But the cop buddy movie ran its course; it’s almost as though audiences have grown tired of seeing characters on screen that inevitably end up liking each other. A bit of negativity is in order here. It’s time for the anti-buddy cop movie. Training Day, the first original screenplay from U-571 and The Fast And The Furious writer David Ayer, was just the kind of anti-buddy experience the world had been waiting for. It’s an intelligent but suitably action-loaded account of a single day in the life of rookie LAPD narcotics cop Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke), who’s gotten tired of the mundanity of day-to-day policing and has signed up for the drug squad to do some good, to “get the crap off the streets”. On his first day in his new role, he finds himself assigned to partner a long-serving and much-decorated undercover detective, Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington). Harris is not a subtle man. An abrupt and often almost threatening man who drives a car that could have been lifted from the set of Shaft, he introduces Hoyt to his own personal method of upholding the law – his own set of rules that he justifies by the need to remain undercover and associate with the scum o’ the earth necessary to make big drug busts happen. Harris has no qualms about menacing drug-buying college kids at gunpoint, chugging beer on the way to the next assignment, hanging out with dubious types socially, helping himself to drugs and money seized as evidence… Harris seems to have no limits, yet his gruffly charming manner makes it all seem more or less reasonable. For a while. Because as Hoyt’s first day drags on, things get more and more out of control – in fact, he is (and we’d like you to assume the voice of The Guy That Does Movie Trailers here) A Good Cop… Having A Baaaaaad Day. And it just keeps getting worse. It may be underpinned by a somewhat mundane premise, but Training Day manages to avoid the obvious for most of its running time, rising above the level of mere action movie or (anti) buddy yarn thanks to several factors. For starters, Washington (who scored a Best Actor Oscar for his work here) and Hawke are superb, both of them finding new and fascinating ways to explore characters that would otherwise have seemed over-familiar; Washington’s almost always a compelling screen presence but here, playing against type, his Lucifer-like beard seems to give him the license he needs to become Alonzo Harris, rather than merely perform him. It’s a thoroughly convincing performance that manages to be perfectly chilling on more than one occasion. Hawke, always a strong screen presence, feeds off Washington’s characterisation; together they make the relatively rapid time-frame of the story convincing. The single-day scenario is interesting – it recalls Martin Scorsese’s After Hours in its main character’s spiralling loss of control, but does so within a very different genre. Ayers’ script is excellent – an extremely kinetic and tension-loaded sequence of events and abrupt character development, it barely lets up for a moment, though it does seem a bit lost when it comes time to round off the story in some meaningful way. Helming only his third feature film (after The Replacement Killers and Bait) music video and TV commercial director Antoine Fuqua brings along all the visual style and flair you’d expect from someone with a background in the visual promo field; he also, however, brings a remarkable ability to tightly control the pace and mood of the story, and it’s extremely effective – particularly in the first half of the film. Fuqua never resorts to overt Scott-brothers-style visual showiness, but still manages to make terrific use of the widescreen frame to subtly shift mood and bring a truly visceral feel to the scenes that need it. Over-familiar the genre may be, but Training Day attempts to take something familiar in a new direction; for the most part it succeeds, though in the hands of lesser talent the very same story could so easily have come out like a bad telemovie. Thank Fuqua that it didn’t.
Video |
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It’s from Roadshow. ‘Nuff said. Well, not quite – like the local DVD of Don’t Say A Word (another film that was, like Training Day, a co-production between a Warner-related company and Village Roadshow), this disc was almost certainly mastered by the gang at Warner’s WAMO facility, and the unexpected appearance of unadvertised DVD-ROM material on the disc (as well as the Warner-style menu screens) would back up that theory. Regardless, this is a stellar transfer. Presented at the original theatrical 2.35:1 aspect ratio – and, of course, 16:9 enhanced – the film presentation is flawless from start to finish. Think of a list of all the things that annoy you most about video transfers of film material – and all the things that you’re tired of seeing go wrong when a transfer is compressed for DVD – and then take your list, screw it up and throw it away. Because whatever you wrote down, it doesn’t apply to this disc. The almost grain-free widescreen image is superbly detailed but never over-enhanced – indeed, it’s almost glistening with fine detail at times, most notably the pattern of water drops on a car window and bonnet during one of the film's early scenes. The higher-than-usual black level during some indoor scenes is intentional, by the way; elsewhere, shadow detail is superb and there’s no shortage of crisp detail even in night sequences. Forget the idea of MPEG artefacts; you might as well be watching a digital master tape. A superb disc, this is easily reference standard. A dual-layered DVD, it places a layer change half way through the movie at the 57 minute mark, during a relatively quiet dialogue scene. It’s extremely well placed and quickly negotiated, but still noticeable due to the brief but unavoidable loss of the quiet background audio.
Audio |
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Contract |
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And speaking of reference standard, welcome to one of the finest movie soundtracks for a film of this genre you’re likely to find anywhere. These people know their audio, and have provided a knock-out 5.1 sound experience that isn’t afraid to be quiet and restrained when needed. Throughout the movie there’s plenty of vivid ambient detail in the rear channels – but it’s subtle detail, the way it should be, giving the non-action scenes a level of realism not usually found in modern soundtracks. Dialogue is well controlled and recorded with just enough dynamic range to stay legible at all times but still have audible emotion contribute viscerally to the drama. When the more action-oriented scenes arrive the soundtrack doesn’t do the obvious thing – the re-recording mixers here don’t simply crank up the master levels and go for the ear-bleed approach. Instead, they mix these scenes with every bit as much realism as the rest of the film, using the five channels and subwoofer extensively to create a truly involving sound-world that’s laden with realistic, sharply defined audio; for example, when a gun is fired into a kitchen area, the resulting sound of shattering glass and crockery is not overplayed, but instead is neatly placed at the appropriate point in the front soundstage at the volume you’d expect from such an event relative to the deafening roar of gunfire. And something else, too – when a character lands a punch on another, the sound team actually DON’T go for the big THWACK sound effect with the WHOOMP emphasis from the sub. They make it sound like a punch actually sounds, and that’s so rare it almost sounds disconcerting at first. All of the sound effects are this well controlled, seamlessly merging with the dialogue. The frequency response of the soundtrack throughout is terrific; those with high-end speakers will be well pleased, and won’t lose their hearing either – something you can’t say about many modern movie soundtracks.
Extras |
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Contract |
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Overall |
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Regardless of all the attendant post-Oscars hype, Training Day is fundamentally a genre picture that rises above the pack thanks to the level of talent that worked on it. Boasting riveting lead performances and moving along at a cracking pace, the film leaves little time to stop for philosophy– and that doesn’t matter. It might not answer any of society’s questions but, just like classics such as Dog Day Afternoon, it conveys the decline of its main character so well you’ll be able to forgive the slight drop into the realms of cliché towards the end. Roadshow’s DVD offers the film with reference-quality picture and sound, and though it would have been nice to see more extras (a long, unedited interview with Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke or director Anton Fuqua would have been a hundred times as valuable as the “featurette” here) many of the bonuses – especially the commentary and deleted scenes – are well worth the effort.
LINK: http://www.dvd.net.au/review.cgi?review_id=1473
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And I quote... |
"...a genre picture that rises above the pack thanks to the level of talent that worked on it... reference-quality picture and sound" - Anthony Horan |
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Review Equipment |
- DVD Player:
Sony DVP-NS300
- TV:
Panasonic - The One
- Receiver:
Sony STR-DB870
- Speakers:
Klipsch Tangent 500
- Centre Speaker:
Panasonic
- Surrounds:
Jamo
- Audio Cables:
Standard Optical
- Video Cables:
Monster s-video
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