Training Day (2001)

My n*gga.

THE SUMMARY: A young rookie cop tries out for the LAPD narcotics unit under the supervision of a renegade veteran, and is expected to betray his training, the law, and morality itself, until he takes matters into his own hands to break the cycle of corruption. An instant classic for me - not only fascinating dilemmas of morality and justice, but a movie I knew almost nothing about beforehand and didn’t expect to be good, and surprise 5-Wickies are always the best 5-Wickies.

FROM MOVIE-PICKER BOBBY: It's a cool movie about corrupt cops and ‘good cops’ interacting.

THE BEST:

• The moral dilemma of the wolf and the sheep: I haven’t seen a more entertaining demonstration of exactly the moral dilemma Blonde and I discuss with each other and the audience - when, if ever, is it acceptable to use immoral means to achieve moral ends? ‘Killing baby Hitler’ is the hypothetical people often cite - is an extrajudicial killing ‘good’ if it stops injustice in the future? In the setting of this movie, is abusing drug users ‘good’ if it helps you catch drug dealers? Is stealing from those drug dealers ‘good’ if it equips you to catch other drug dealers? Is cold-blooded murder ‘good’ if it takes a ‘bad guy’ off the streets?

  Alonzo thinks so, in both words and deeds. After murdering Roger and threatening Jake into compliance with the coverup, Alonzo responds to Jake’s moral objections: ‘Roger sold dope to kids. World’s better off with out him.’ But is the world ‘better’ with a cold-blooded murder instead?

  Alonzo explains this apparent contradiction with the metaphor of the wolf and the sheep - ‘to protect the sheep, ya gotta catch the wolf. And it takes a wolf to catch a wolf,’ he says.

  While this metaphor makes sense in concept - only those capable of wolfery could stop aggressive wolfery - it lacks moral boundary. It lacks definition of when wolves are and are not appropriate. And as a consequence, so does Alonzo. He’s a wolf when he doesn’t need to be. He’s a wolf not in pure defense, but a wolf who aggressively exploits others, and rationalizes it as always in pursuit of ‘good.’

  The movie excellently demonstrates how tempting but destructive that mentality can be. Initially, Alonzo’s wolf tactics seem both exciting and effective. He’s not only a charismatic strongman, but his methods work too. As he brags, he produces convictions, and he handles people who would otherwise be abusing others.

  Over the course of the show, however, Alonzo’s corruption makes him more and more detestable, as each of his crimes adds up until many viewers are likely cheering for his death in the end. Alonzo’s story is a lesson that while it seems appealing to bend morality in pursuit of easier ends, that temptation will corrupt and turn you away from a path of morality, and onto a path of destruction and death. Maybe even death by Russian AK-47 firing squad.

  Instead of ‘being a wolf’ as Alonzo advises, I think the lesson is more properly phrased ‘be capable of wolfery,’ though I’m sure there’s a better, less awkward way to state that concept. Moral men are capable of terrible things, they just have it under control and understand the limitations of when to deploy it. Jordan Peterson explains it: be dangerous but disciplined. Alonzo didn’t understand the latter part, and paid the price.

• Play the game to beat the game: Another of Alonzo’s ‘lessons’ that sounds appealing on a surface level but fails throughout the movie is the concept of ‘playing the game.’ When Jake objects to Alonzo’s crimes, Alonzo insists it’s all part of the game, and that to beat the game (and change it), you must play the game. Alonzo says ‘do your time and make detective. Play the game, grow wise, and change things from the inside.’

  This too is a moral dilemma we have frequently discussed. Should I keep my head down at school or work and submit to the progressive propaganda, for example, on the bet that I will advance into leadership and then get rid of this nonsense? On several occasions, I’ve advised exactly that.

  But this movie presents an excellent challenge and counter to that idea, that by playing the game, you never defeat it - you only maintain it. If everyone’s always playing the game, even though they hate the game and object to the game, the game doesn’t end. It persists continuously.

  In the wolf concept above, becoming the wolf doesn’t stop wolves - it perpetuates them. In this game concept, playing the game doesn’t stop the game - it perpetuates it.

  Bottom line to both themes - draw your moral lines and stand firm on them. When you make moral comprise, your life becomes morally compromised.

The wolf and the sheep

Alonzo’s death

• Now I know the meme: I’m guilty of sharing and enjoying memes of which I do not know or understand the origin, and the Denzel Washington ‘my n*gga’ meme is one such example. Now I understand it in full context. Although I play by the rules - typically I share the ‘my N-word’ variant, in service to Susan and company.

• But to limit to that moment would sell Denzel short: Denzel Washington is genuinely legendary in this movie, as though the role was written for him and he actually is Alonzo. An Oscar well-deserved. The character is almost everything all together: intelligent and physically powerful, charming and despicable, a family man who destroys families, and an imperfect hero turned rotten villain. It’s a well-written role, to develop all sides of a complex character, but it takes an incredible performance to pull it off and make the audience love and hate that character at the same time. Washington does it better than anyone else possibly could.

• Honorable mention to R2SnoopDogg: I hate almost everything about Snoop Dogg, from his music to his politics. I do, however, inexplicably love R2SnoopDogg, the disabled wheelchaired variant. It’s not even that great of a performance. It’s mostly just Snoop Dogg playing himself, but for some reason, it’s way funnier and ‘hood authentic on wheels.

THE WORST:

• A little over-the-top to be believable, but such is an action movie: I understand the LAPD is supposed to be thoroughly if not impossibly corrupt, but it’s still exaggerated beyond serious belief to think that a cop could be as crooked as Alonzo and still escape scrutiny. He lies, he steals, he outright kills people, and even if I could believe that he does these things and hides them well, often, he does these things in plain sight, as in open gang warfare during the day on the street.

  He shoots errantly into the neighborhood and his car has bullet holes from getting shot back, and nobody apparently has any questions about that. Either that or literally everyone is in on ‘the game.’ Though given LA corruption, I suppose the exaggeration might not be as extreme as I’m saying.

  Or maybe policing was just different 20 years ago, before we handicapped and sabotaged the profession. All I know is cops don’t get away with anything remotely similar today. Indeed, a sheriff’s deputy in Florida was fired in 2017 for simply jokingly re-enacting a scene from this movie. Though in fairness, he apparently was waving his gun around irresponsibly.

  Fundamentally though, those points are more about entertainment than philosophical substance. If you want good action, it has to be exaggerated beyond everyday occurrence. That’s what makes it worth watching. Regardless, the likelihood of the specific circumstances isn’t really the point. The moral implications are, and this movie absolutely nails those.

• The end is mildly unsatisfying: I was a little disappointed that it was the Russians that ultimately got Alonzo. Not because I wanted Jake to do it - the whole point was him maintaining moral fortitude, and murdering Alonzo would have destroyed that plotline. I wanted Alonzo’s own friends and neighbors to take him out, as it looked like they were about to do. I thought Jake would stand down, and the homies of the neighborhood would put one in the back of Alonzo’s head, demonstrating that Alonzo’s own moral recklessness caused him to die by the surroundings he created. I suppose the Russians did that too, but those characters weren’t developed. They weren’t seen until they killed him, so their connection to him seemed absent and less meaningful than that of his neighborhood.

  It’s also a little silly the movie expects you to believe the various criminals and reprobates of this neighborhood would simply allow Jake to walk out freely with all of Alonzo’s cash, because it’s evidence in pursuit of justice. Maybe they all had an epiphany because of Alonzo’s villainy. I guess that’s supposed to be what happened - Alonzo was so bad that they all became good. But it’d be much more believable if the neighborhood watch killed both Jake and Alonzo, and distributed the proceeds for fine rims and exotic Jordans.

• However, the radio report at the closing scene was pure excellence. It’s a fantastic callback to Alonzo telling Jake if he doesn’t ‘play the game,’ there will be a radio report of his death. Instead, by playing the game forever, it’s Alonzo’s death reported in exactly the way he warns. Well done.

THE RATING: 5/5 Wickies. Moral and philosophical themes are amazingly well-presented and correctly concluded, Denzel Washington was born to play this role, with plenty of other character and comedy throughout as well, all in a package I didn’t expect anything out of but strongly over-delivered.

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