Sunday, 17 August 2014

Training Day

Also Known As:
Unknown
Year:
2001
Countries:
Australia…
United States…
Predominant Genre:
Crime
Director:
Antoine Fuqua…
Best Performances:
Ethan HAWKE…
Denzel WASHINGTON…
Premiss:
On his first day on the job as a narcotics officer, a rookie cop goes on a 24-hour training course with a rogue detective who is not what he appears.
Themes:
Compassion
Corruption
Guilt
Personal change
Political Correctness
White culture
Similar (in Plot, Theme or Style) to:
Unknown
Review Format:
Cinema

King Kong

Cleverly-structured movie about police corruption that does not go too deeply into the reasons for its existence; instead, relying on the powerhouse performance of its star, Denzel WASHINGTON, for its considerable emotional impact.

Ethan HAWKE is not a great actor, but this is his strength here as he plays a weak man taking some time to realize he is the dupe of the other. The relationships between the characters are real and convincing because they do not inhabit a movieland interpretation of reality.

The screenwriter has a natural ear for contemporary dialogue and the rhythmical & imaginative argot of lower-class criminals; he does not rely on gratuitously-repetitive and mentally-dulling swearwords to achieve his affects.

The well-known bit-players also add to the overall weave as good character actors always should.


Copyright © 2014 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute this posting in any format; provided mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

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Science:



No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.



Jacob Bronowski… (1908 - 74), British scientist, author. Encounter (London, July 1971).


Sleep of Reason:



The dream of reason produces monsters. Imagination deserted by reason creates impossible, useless thoughts. United with reason, imagination is the mother of all art and the source of all its beauty.



Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes… (1746-1828), Spanish painter. Caption to Caprichos, number 43, a series of eighty etchings completed in 1798, satirical and grotesque in form.


Humans & Aliens:



I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.



Terence… (circa 190-159 BC), Roman dramatist. Chremes, in The Self-Tormentor [Heauton Timorumenos], act 1, scene 1.


Führerprinzip:



One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves… There is no organ of conciliation or mediation interposed between the leader and the people, nothing in fact but the apparatus - in other words, the party - which is the emanation of the leader and the tool of his will to oppress. In this way the first and sole principle of this degraded form of mysticism is born, the Führerprinzip, which restores idolatry and a debased deity to the world of nihilism.