|
Washington
stalks Oscar, |
|||||
“Good
cop/bad cop.” The police
interrogation technique of partners ganging up on a suspect has
long been a cinematic staple, but in “Training Day,” the
new film from Warner Bros., the competition between good cop and
bad cop goes on inside one cop. Narcotics detective
Alonzo Harris, played by Denzel Washington in a bravura performance,
is the schizophrenic combination of a streetwise law enforcement
crusader and a vicious leader of a police wolf pack that preys on
bad guys and good guys alike. He is funny but ruthless, likeable
but despicable, a hero but an outcast. “There
are some profoundly evil people walking these streets,” Alonzo
says as the film begins. Will good prevail over evil? That is the
simple dramatic question director Antoine Fuqua poses here, but
the route to the answer weaves wildly through crime-infested neighborhoods
and sizzling plot twists, jumping from one spellbinding scene to
the next. Harris schedules
a single “training day” to break in narcotics division
recruit Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke). Hoyt is a veteran of uniformed
traffic duty in the suburbs, but Harris sees in him the qualities
needed to be a detective on the mean streets of Los Angeles. The two spend
most of the day riding around in Harris’ “office,”
a vintage low-rider Monte Carlo, as the grizzled but suave Alonzo
explains the nuances of working undercover and making the big arrest.
Harris convinces his protégé to smoke PCP-laden weed,
saying refusal on the streets would cost him his life -- “If
I was a dealer, you’d be dead by now.” He tells Hoyt not
to wear his wedding ring to work, saying suspects would seize on
it as a sign of weakness, a vulnerability to exploit. They drink
malt liquor like it’s water, and even stop off for a few belts
of “the $300-a-bottle good stuff” with Harris’ shadowy
friend (played perfectly by Scott Glenn). Harris boasts
of the “15,000 man-hours of incarceration time” that his
investigations have led to, but he lets several small-time criminals
go free after Hoyt is ready to make busts. “We’re not
racking up arrests today,” Harris says. Hoyt asks, “Just
let the animals wipe themselves out?” And Alonzo replies, “God
willing.”
Fuqua, who
made a mark directing music videos for Arrested Development, Henry
D & The Boyz and Coolio, distinguishes himself with his third
feature, after “The Replacement Killers” (1998) and “Bait”
(2000). The pace of the film never slows, even when the two main
characters are simply riding around in a car or sitting in a restaurant.
The action sequences are interlaced with driving rap music and feverish
editing, and Fuqua keeps the viewer guessing to the very last about
what will become of Harris and Hoyt. Even with a
scraggly mustache and goatee, and even though he’ll turn 31
years old Nov. 6, Hawke still has a hard time shaking off his boyish
innocence, but he comes of age as an actor in “Training Day.”
After solid performances as a teen-ager in “The Dead Poets
Society” (1989) and “A Midnight Clear” (1991), Hawke
started landing starring roles, including the overlooked lead in
“Snow Falling on Cedars” (1999). A Best Supporting Actor
nomination would not be a surprise, given his stellar work as the
tormented Hoyt. As for Washington,
he has never been better on screen, and we’re talking about
a 47-year-old actor who has mustered four Academy Award nominations
in his career. He earned his first nod for a supporting role as
South Africa’s Steve Biko in “Cry Freedom” (1987),
and then won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1989’s
“Glory.” He followed that with Best Actor nominations
for “Malcolm X” (1992) and “The Hurricane” (1999).
(He should have won both statues, losing to Al Pacino in “Scent
of a Woman” and Kevin Spacey in “American Beauty.”) Some wonder
whether Washington took a risk by playing a rogue cop in “Training
Day,” but other than the upbeat football coach in “Remember
the Titans” (2000), his past characters have not exactly been
choirboys. For example, Reuben “Hurricane” Carter was
a ruthless boxer and enough a product of the streets to be convicted
of manslaughter, and Malcolm X made enemies of both whites and blacks
before being assassinated. No, playing Alonzo Harris was not career suicide for Washington. In fact, it’s very likely he’ll finally win the Best Actor Oscar that his body of work so richly deserves. * * * * * Related link: “Training Day” official home page |
