Training Day

For eager young detective Jake Hoyt (Hawke), today is his first day in the field under the tutelage of Washington's jaundiced narc, Alonzo Harris. Shades of Seven immediately evaporate when Harris compels his partner to sample the illegal substances they've just seized from some unlucky daytrippers. That's just for starters because Harris has plans. He shows Hoyt round the 'hood, then sets about blooding him big time. There's a nifty little B-movie lurking somewhere underneath this glossy cop thriller. Not that many punters will complain about the excess, or the slumming A list actors. Alonzo isn't exactly undercover, rather he operates in plain sight, playing both sides of the law against each other to his own ends. Washington certainly doesn't hold back: he's the best bad cop since Richard Gere in Internal Affairs. Suffering remorseless verbal and physical humiliation, Hawke doesn't get much time for goatee-scratching, which is just as well, given how the script is more propulsive than credible. Director Fuqua keeps it slick and sleazy and stokes up the race some, but this only accelerates the movie's deafening rush toward the top and ever over.