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90One of the finest cops-and-robbers thrillers of recent years.
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90Ominously atmospheric study of police corruption dangles danger and sinister motives at every turn.
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90Trashy and opportunistic as some of it is, Training Day is the most vital police drama since "The French Connection" or "Serpico."
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88Be warned: Though it's entirely justified by the story, there's a level of violence and brutality in Training Day -- that some terror-weary audience members may not care to cope with these days.
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80Mesmerizing entertainment, but it's also a cop-out.
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80On a purely visceral level, Training Day is easily the most exciting movie out there right now, but as a morality tale with anything large on its mind, it's a cop-out.
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80Antoine Fuqua's propulsive, elegantly written police thriller, offers the unsettling spectacle of Denzel Washington.
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80If nothing else, Training Day is a gorgeous pedestal for Denzel Washington.
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80As long as Training Day stays tightly focused on the struggle between the two cops, the movie is first rate.
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80Training Day can be simplistic, formulaic and absurdly melodramatic -- but Mr. Washington is flat-out great.
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A taut, high-velocity film that departs from the action flick template by having actual ideas.
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80Washington creates an indelibly charming and terrifying character whose volatile blend of dedication and horrible expediency keeps us off balance.
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78A razor-wire-taut (and extremely violent) exploration of what happens when good guys go bad, badder, baddest.
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75So extreme is his mad dog behavior, indeed, that it shades over into humor: Washington seems to enjoy a performance that's over the top and down the other side.
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75This is a movie that rocks and socks you, and has a performance by Washington that's ruthless and scary. But in the end, it leaves you unmarked.
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75Even if the movie loses its nerve at the end, that doesn't take anything away from Washington's performance.
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75The movie raises questions that are on plenty of minds right now, including whether and how much the rules should be bent to wage a war (in this case, on drugs) that cannot be won conventionally.
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75It is so propulsive so much of the time, it almost looks as if it's going to go the distance. If Washington & Co. don't quite manage to bring it home, the getting there sure is something.
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75With its unflinching style, Training Day can be hard to sit through at times. But it's worth the discomfort for the adrenaline rush of the plot and Washington's compelling performance.
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75Even when it falls back excessively on coincidence and contrived set pieces, even when it gushes irretrievably over the top in its final act, Washington makes Training Day sizzle.
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75He presides over the picture with such assurance that even longtime Denzel-watchers gape.
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70Bit of melodramatic grandstanding that it is -- is made irrelevant by Washington's volcanic energy and fierce conviction.
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70Though Training Day doesn't resolve itself as well as it deserves and ends strictly cops-and-robbers style, it's given us some great acting and something to ponder. Not every cop show can lay claim to that.
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70Mr. Washington's dry-ice grandeur -- the predator's reflexes contrasting with a pensive mouth -- deserves regard, and his powerhouse virtuosity will almost guarantee him an Oscar nomination.
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63Training Day has the best performances and worst third act of any movie you're likely to see this year.
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60Even after it becomes clearer which side of law Harris is operating on, the film continues to work as a taut -- if violent -- police thriller.
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60But this is Washington's show, his Scarface, if you will, and his smiling, seductive monster is a thrilling creation that gives Training Day all the bite it needs.
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50Denzel Washington does a cocksure turn in Training Day -- That may be enough to transform a shallow picture with delusions of grandeur into a crowd-pleasing hit.
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50It's a little depressing to see such a thrilling talent deployed in such an ordinary and sordid movie. Training Day isn't awful, but it's absolutely nothing special.
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50As exhausting as it is exhilarating to watch, the film in the end is less than fully satisfying.
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42There's no denying that Washington can play a rococo villain with flip ebullience, but I fervently wish he were doing it in a movie that paid more than lip service to the real world.
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42The masochistic brutality it's selling still seems glaringly out of step with the current mood of the country.
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40One of those movie equivalents of a freeway pileup -- it's a mess, at once insistently watchable and a total dead end.
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30A blandly twisting plot with no meaningful revelations or substantial themes.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 34 out of 44
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Mixed: 4 out of 44
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Negative: 6 out of 44
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BusterB10
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Brandon10