Perhaps it’s because I recently wrote posts about Boyhood and the Before trilogy that I’ve had Ethan Hawke on my mind. I thought a perfect way to tie this together would be to note that, as of this writing, Ethan Hawke has just earned an Oscar nomination for Blue Moon. (I’m writing this in February 2026, but I’m not sure when I will get around to posting it). Training Day was the film that earned him his first nomination of his career, so it felt like a perfect time to write about the film. The truth is, though, I just had a desire to re-watch it. It’s one of my favorite crime films. It’s a two-hander led by an over-the-top Denzel Washington and a more subdued Ethan Hawke. Of course, I figured that if I chose to watch the film, I should at least take notes and write a post. Before we get into the bulk of the post, I want to issue a formal spoiler alert.
The film follows narcotics officer Alonzo Harris and rookie Jake Hoyt as they spend a day in the gang-ridden streets of South Central Los Angeles. Alonzo, a highly decorated and highly respected officer, gives Jake Hoyt one day and one day only to show him what he’s made of. If he passes the test, then he has a permanent spot in Alonzo’s team. This is Jake’s training day, hence the title. However, as the day progresses, Jake realizes things aren’t black and white. Corruption is abundant among those chosen to uphold the law. Not just Alonzo, either, but the other members of his team and “the three wise men.” The wise men consist of two high-ranking LAPD officers and the LA County District Attorney. They know everything that goes on in the streets and protect in exchange for a taste of the action.
A rarity in a big studio film, screenwriter David Ayer wrote the film himself. Most films of this caliber have multiple writers. He wrote the initial draft in 1995, in which Alonzo was a Latino officer in charge of a drug enforcement agency in the Pico-Union. He was a loner and didn’t have any partners due to his reputation as a corrupt and racist cop. Eventually, the character morphed into the Alonzo featured in the film, an African American detective with lots of charisma and many partners. The only two things to remain from the first draft were Alonzo’s penchant for wearing expensive jewelry and basing his office out of his Monte Carlo. Though the film was written before the Rampart scandal was exposed in 1998, the scandal’s prominence was the catalyst for granting the film a greenlight.
The film underwent several iterations before Washington and Hawke were cast. Davis Guggenheim was the first person hired to direct. Under his direction, the film was to star Samuel L. Jackson as Alonzo and Matt Damon as Jake. However, no deals were ever finalized, and Denzel Washington signed on. When Washington signed on, he lobbied for Antoine Fuqua to direct after seeing his previous film, Bait, and was impressed by it. Fuqua replaced Matt Damon. He wanted Hawke from the beginning, but he was initially unavailable due to scheduling conflicts. Tobey Maguire was then cast in the role. He even started to gain weight and shadow LAPD officers. However, once Hawke became available, Fuqua dropped Maguire for Hawke. It’s funny. I think the two leads are perfectly cast, but I can see an alternate reality where Jackson and Damon play the leads. I can’t imagine Tobey Maguire in the role, especially since this film came out in late 2001 and the following summer, he was playing teenager Peter Parker in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man.
What’s brilliant about this film is that the story is told through a two-hour tug of war between our two main characters. They couldn’t be any more different. Physically, Alonzo is twenty-five years older than Jake. He sports pierced ears, a durag, and wears an expensive, custom cross necklace just underneath his LAPD badge. Jake, on the other hand, is young and skinny. The only jewelry he wears is a wedding ring, until Alonzo tells him to take it off, saying, “The moment you bring your wife to work, is the moment she ends up dead,” or something to the same extent. Aside from both being narcotics officers, the only similarity they share is that they both have goatees.
In terms of personality, the two men couldn’t be further apart. Jake is an inexperienced rookie. He’s nervous about his training day. He lies in bed, wide awake, waiting to hit the snooze button the second it goes off. As he tells his wife, “I feel like I’m in high school and it’s football tryouts. I just want it to be tomorrow so I know if I made it.” Once he’s dressed and ready to go, he polishes his badge. He’s also overeager. When Alonzo calls his home and tells him where to meet for breakfast, Alonzo says, “This is an elite unit.” Jake responds, “I know, sir, and that’s why I wanted to join.” Before Jake can finish, Alonzo hangs up. He doesn’t have the patience for a rookie. This is further exemplified in the diner scene. Jake sits down and, without Alonzo looking up from his paper, is told to get some breakfast, as he is paying. Jake turns down the offer and begins talking to Alonzo. Alonzo is not amused. Jake says that he’ll get food after all, and Alonzo responds, “Hell no, you won’t. You fucked that up.” When Jake won’t stop talking, Alonzo has finally had enough. “Tell me a story,” he tells Jake. “What?” “Tell me a story. This newspaper is 90% bullshit, but it entertains me. Since you won’t shut up long enough for me to read my paper, tell me a story.”
It’s clear at this point that Alonzo doesn’t have time for bullshit. Jake obliges and tells him a story about how he and his training officer, Debbie, stopped a guy for a DUI. Alonzo stops the story to confirm that Jake had a female TO, which seems to shock him. Jake affirms that he did and continues with the story. During the DUI stop, they found lots of heroin and an automatic weapon. It turns out that the guy was a dealer on the way to smoke his partner. Jake is pretty proud of the story, and Alonzo appears to be, too. However, in his first moment of deception (there will be many), his awe at the story turns to sarcasm. He chides Jake, “It’s amazing how you could be in the field with a fine bitch for a year, and the best you could come up with is a DUI stop.” He then pressures Jake to ask if they hooked up. Jake denies it and is clearly uncomfortable. “Does she have a liquor license?” Alonzo asks. “What? “A lick-her license. Is she a dyke?” This conversation immediately informs the audience that Alonzo will speak his mind, no matter how problematic.
The next stop after breakfast is the office, aka, Alonzo’s black Monte Carlo. The wheels rise, and once all the souped-up elements appear, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s “Still D.R.E.” plays, indicating that Alonzo drives in style. Interestingly, both Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg play minor roles in the film. While in the car, Alonzo asks Jake why he wants to be a narcotics officer. Jake gives the stock answer of, “I want to better my community by ridding it of dangerous drugs.” Alonzo doesn’t buy it and continues questioning him until Jake reveals that his goal is to become a detective. “Give me eighteen months,” Alonzo assures him, and “you’ll make detective.”
Alonzo continues the small talk this time. He asks Jake about his life and if he has a family. Jake confirms to Alonzo that he has a wife and infant daughter, but doesn’t want to talk about it. “I get it. I’ve got my queen too,” Alonzo tells him. “I’ve got three boys,” he adds. “I can’t miss. If you ever need a son, I can hook your girl up.” That comment does not sit well with Jake immediately. As they drive through the neighborhood, Alonzo gives Jake a crash course. He asks Jake, “How is your Spanish?” “Más o menos,” he replies. “Learn that shit,” Alonzo tells him.”It might save your life.”
The car stops at the house of one of Alonzo’s informants. Jake is surprised to learn that Alonzo’s informant is only 17. They witness a group of college kids conduct a drug deal, and Alonzo pulls them over. There are two males in the front seats and a female in the back. Alonzo tells Jake to control the female suspect while he deals with a male suspect. For purchasing marijuana, Alonzo holds both of them at gunpoint. When Jake is busy watching Alonzo, he fails to notice the woman lowering her hands from the window. “Control your suspect!” He yells at Jake. He then threatens the woman to slap the taste out of her mouth if she moves again. Returning to the men, he confiscates their drugs and tells them not to come back up in this area. He then threatens to confiscate their car and walk home in the gang-heavy neighborhood, adding that the gangs would run a train on their girl. Alonzo is satisfied, having gotten the point across, and he and Jake get back into the car. From this moment on, Jake becomes uneasy.
Back in the Monte Carlo, cruising the streets, Alonzo pulls out a pipe and fills it with weed. “What are you going to do, smoke that?” Jake asks. “No, you are,” Alonzo informs him. “Like hell I am.” “A good narcotics officer must know and even have narcotics in his system,” Alonzo adds. When Jake refuses, Alonzo abruptly stops the car and pulls a gun on Jake. “Turn that shit down on the street, and you are dead,” Alonzo informs him. “The chief brings your wife a folded flag. What the fuck is wrong with you?” Jake takes a moment to think and reluctantly takes a couple of hits. Alonzo is pleased, and they continue. As the drive continues, Jake begins to trip. That’s when Alonzo informs him that the weed was laced with PCP. Jake freaks out, saying he is going to be piss tested and fired. “The chief has our back. We know a week before we piss,” Alonzo assures him.
Alonzo makes a stop at the home of an acquaintance, Roger (Scott Glenn). Roger is one of Alonzo’s informants and a significant drug dealer. From the interactions between Alonzo and Roger alone, the audience knows these two are close. With an impressive memory, he recalls Jake from his high school football days, astonishing both Jake and Alonzo. Roger tells Jake a joke about figuring out the streets. Jake tells him that he already has the streets figured out. Both Roger and Alonzo laugh hysterically. “It’s all about smiles and cries,” a stoned Jake explains. “They can’t take those away from you.” Once again, causing them to break into laughter. Roger tells Alonzo he heard about his “beef with the Russians,” a line that will become important later. Alonzo assures him that it was nothing, but he’s going to take care of it. He also informs Roger that he will meet with the three wise men and might be back later before they depart.
Back in Monte Carlo, Alonzo offers Jake a beer to help him get clear-headed after the PCP. Jake reluctantly obliges, and Alonzo has one, too. As he sips his beer, Jake notices something and makes Alonzo stop the car. He sees a teenage girl being attacked by two men who are going to rape her. Despite getting his ass kicked, he does his best to stop the men. He eventually subdues both of them, which impresses Alonzo, who just watches. Jake cuffs them when Alonzo enters. The two men disrespect him. One of them tells Alonzo, “Suck my dick, bitch,” which he does not appreciate. Alonzo pulls out two guns from his holsters, rubs them up against each other, and aims the gun at the man’s genitals.
After threatening to blow them off, the man apologizes. At the same time, the girl tells the men that her uncle is a Sureño gangster and they will be killed when he finds out. Alonzo sends the girl home. When she is safely out of harm’s way, he releases the assailants, beaten and bruised. Jake can’t believe it. As they walk away, Jake notices the girl’s pink wallet. He picks it up and looks at her ID card before putting it in his pocket. The girl was only fifteen. Back in the car, Jake confronts Alonzo. “You let them go.”
“What more do you want?” Alonzo asks. “I want justice.” “Is that not justice? The girl’s uncle will probably kill them anyway.” “That’s not justice. That’s street justice.” “What’s wrong with street justice?” “Just let the animals wipe themselves out,” Jake asks, incredulously. “It can’t be like this.” “It is,” Alonzo tells him. “I’m sorry I opened your eyes to it, but this is the way it is. It takes a wolf to catch a wolf. Are you a wolf or are you a sheep?” Alonzo asks Jake. In a state of disbelief, Jake rolls his eyes.
The day continues, and the Monte Carlo pulls up to a street corner where Blue (Snoop Dogg) is selling drugs. Jake fails to purchase crack from him, and Alonzo insists that Jake give chase to him, despite Blue being in a wheelchair. Jake pursues Blue, who swallows the crack rocks, eventually catching up to him in a wig shop. Alonzo joins him and interrogates Blue, asking him about his employer. When he refuses to speak, Alonzo takes a pen and gags him, forcing him to regurgitate the crack rocks. With a crack and a gun, Alonzo tells him,” he’s federally fucked and that he could get ten years per bullet.” Blue acquiesces and gives the name of his employer, “The Sandman.”
Alonzo and Jake then go to Sandman’s house, despite knowing that he is in prison. Instead, Alonzo pulls out a Chinese food menu from his glove compartment, folds it up, and presents it as a warrant. They enter the home and find his wife and nephew inside. Alonzo pretends to execute the warrant, finds a roll of cash, and pockets it. Before the exit, Sandman’s wife is insistent on having a copy of the warrant. Alonzo, brazenly, gives her the menu, and the two head for the car. When she realizes that the warrant was faked, she checks the money. Upon discovering it is gone, she yells for her neighbors to smoke them, and they drive off in a hail of gunfire. Jake is not amused by the fake warrant bit. He worries that with all of the scandals, it is “open season on misconduct.”
The next stop is a place Alonzo refers to as “The Jungle,” a gang-ridden area of LA. Alonzo tells Jake, Never come up here without me. Jake tells him that he heard that you should never come up here with anything less than a platoon. Alonzo points out a group of pigeons flying above them (released by Terry Crews in his uncredited film debut) and tells Jake they are being released to warn everyone that he is there. The first person Jake meets is a gang member named Bone. The gang members let the Monte Carlo through. Alonzo is close to the residents. They flatter him to his face, but everybody actually hates Alonzo. They arrive at Sara’s apartment. Sara (Eva Mendes) is Alonzo’s lover and mother to his young son. Jake eats lunch and falls asleep with the boy while Alonzo and Sara participate in some afternoon delight. Jake is later awakened by Alonzo, who tells him to get to the car because they have a meeting with the wisemen. Before they leave, Alonzo speaks Spanish to his son and tells him that he loves him.
At the meeting, Jake is introduced to the wisemen. They are Detective Doug Rosselli (Harris Yulin), who specializes in large-scale heists, Captain Lou Jacobs (Raymond J. Barry), the guy you speak to before you speak to the feds, and Stan Gursky (Tom Berenger) of the LA District Attorney’s office. You talk to him before you pull the trigger. The wisemen are aware of the bind Alonzo is in and refer to him as a dead man. In exchange for the $40,000 Alonzo took from Sandman, the wisemen present him with a warrant for Roger. Alonzo assembles a squad of narcotics officers, including Jake, Jeff, and Paul (Dr. Dre). They issue the warrant at Roger’s house. Jeff takes a saw to the floorboard, and Jake begins digging until he pulls out a large case of money. Inside is $4 million. “Your first day and you hit a $3 million seizure,” Alonzo proudly tells Jake. “You said $4 million,” Jake corrects him. “That’s right. No taxation without representation.” Each officer takes a quarter of a million dollars. Jake is tempted, but ultimately passes, which raises suspicion among the cops.
Roger is incensed that Alonzo is robbing him, but Alonzo assures him that it’s just “a little taxation.” To finish the job, Alonzo tells Jake to shoot Roger, but he refuses. Alonzo then executes Roger himself, and the cops fabricate a scenario where Jeff enters and is hit twice by Roger, and then Jake shoots Roger. To make the alibi airtight, Alonzo shoots Jeff twice with Roger’s gun. Jake refuses to corroborate the story, and Alonzo pulls a shotgun on him. “It could be two officers down,” Alonzo tells Jake. “I’m good with that,” Paul agrees. Alonzo begins to read his fake obituary. “Los Angeles police officer Jake Hoyt was killed today while serving a high-risk warrant. He is survived by his wife and infant child.” Fed up, Jake swiftly takes the gun from Alonzo and aims it at him, all while Paul points a gun at Jake. “That is the second time you have pulled a gun on me today; there will not be a third!” Jake yells at Alonzo, who is excited by Jake’s change. He tells Jake that he had better go with the story they made up because if she starts speaking out of line, he will have his blood tested, and they will find the PCP, ending his career. Realizing he has been played, Jake goes along with it. “It’s not what you know,” Alonzo tells him. “It’s what you can prove.”
After Jake makes his statement to the investigators, he asks how he could do that to Roger, since they were friends. Alonzo tells Jake that they were not friends and that Roger was a dope dealer who sold to children. The world is a better place without him. In the evening, Alonzo and Jake visit the home of a Sureño gang member named Smiley, who is also one of Alonzo’s informants. They bring along a blender, since Alonzo likes to “take care of his informants,” only to discover that the blender box is full of cash. Jake plays an intense game of poker with Smiley and his associates, Sniper and Moreno. They reveal to Jake that while in Vegas, Alonzo got mad and beat a Russian guy to death, only to discover that he was somebody in the Russian mob. Now he owes them a million dollars, and he has until midnight to deliver, necessitating the robbery of Roger.
Additionally, Smiley reveals that Alonzo has left Jake. Fear fills Jake’s eyes as he realizes the money in the blender was payment to kill him. He flips the card table and decks Smiley in the face, but is hit in the back of the head with a beer bottle and handcuffs his hands behind his back.
They drag him through the apartment, blood from his head wound leaving a trail, and throw him in the tub. From this moment on, the film’s excitement and intensity are at a ten, and they don’t let up for the rest of the film. Smiley runs the water and points the shotgun at his face. Moreno goes to take his money but finds the pink wallet. He shows Smiley his ID card, recognizing the girl as his cousin. Smiley is enraged and tells him to get in one last prayer. Instead, Jake uses the moment to explain how he saved her from being raped and pleads with Smiley, “I have a little girl!” Smiley hesitates and pulls out his phone. “We’ll get to the bottom of this,” Smiley calls his cousin, who backs up his story. As a token of gratitude, Smiley spares Jake’s life. “You know this was only business, right?” Smiley asks Jake. Jake, still shaken, nods his head. The film cuts to a shot of him on a shitty city bus, determination in his eyes as he loads his gun.
Jake arrives in The Jungle, this time with no fear. Bones and some associates stop him. He tells them he is there for Alonzo, and they let him pass. Jake goes to Sara’s apartment and convinces the kid to let him in. Showing his paternal instincts, he asks the kid if he has a favorite hiding spot. When he replies, “the closet,” Jake tells him to go hide. Jake then makes his way to the bedroom to find a naked Sara on the bed and Alonzo packing his bag full of money. He goes to arrest Alonzo, who, impressed with his survival skills, tells him he passed the test. Jake isn’t having it. He’s going to arrest Alonzo. Alonzo plays along before flicking a lit cigarette at Jake, rendering him momentarily incapacitated. Alonzo jumps down to the floor and grabs a shotgun he had stashed under the bed. He shoots at Jake but misses. Jake takes shelter, hiding behind the kitchen counter, and a firefight ensues. Alonzo’s son appears, and Alonzo tells Jake, “Officer Hoyt. There’s my son. Your first job is to protect life.” Whether or not Alonzo would shoot his son isn’t clear. Jake calls his bluff and saves the boy. This gives Alonzo time to flee.
Jake follows Alonzo’s path and climbs through the window onto the roof. A chase pursues, and they jump across rooftops. During one jump, Jake misses the landing, but manages to hold onto a unit’s patio, with vicious dogs right below him. Jake manages to pull himself back up and get on the roof, only to get punched in the face by Alonzo. The two exchange blows, but it is Alonzo who has the upper hand. He beats Jake violently. For someone who has been calm and collected most of the film, this is the first time we see him lose his cool. In a particularly violent move, Alonzo hits Jake in the back with a patio chair and then slams his head into a brick wall, knocking him out. Looking at his watch, Alonzo takes the money and flees. As he puts his Monte Carlo in reverse, something happens. Right when Jake is down for the count, he pushes himself off the roof and onto Alonzo’s car. The force of his body landing on the car causes Alonzo to swerve and drive recklessly until he crashes into another vehicle. Mustering the strength, Jake beats Alonzo through the window and pulls him from the car. Amid the noise of the calamity and car horns, the whole neighborhood comes out to see what is happening.
Alonzo offers to make a rich man the first to put a bullet in Jake. Bones approaches, gun in hand. Instead of taking Alonzo up on his offer, Bone sets his gun down in an act of defiance. “You got us twisted, homie. You gotta put in your own work around here.” He can’t believe it. Jake threatens to shoot and kill Alonzo, but Alonzo doesn’t think he will. It’s all fun and games until Jake shoots him in the ass. Alonzo sees the look of seriousness in Jake’s eyes. Jake grabs the bag of money. “Now you’re gonna rob me too?” Alonzo asks. “This is my evidence,” Jake tells him. “You wanna go to jail, or you wanna go to home?” Jake asks, echoing a question Alonzo asked one of the would-be rapists before letting him go earlier. Bone picks up his gun and points it at Alonzo. “Go ahead and bounce, Jake,” he tells him. “We got your back.” Jake takes a moment and nods at Bone. He turns around and exits as Alonzo yells at him to return the money. With Jake out of sight, Alonzo unleashes his wrath on the residents, threatening retaliation. This is where he utters his famous “King Kong” line. Soon enough, the residents become sick of him and let him go, knowing he’s a dead man without the money. Alonzo lights a cigarette and mutters to himself, “What a day. What a motherfuckin’ day.” At this point, he knows he is done for.
While trying to flee to LAX, Alonzo is ambushed by Russians. He steps out of his car to try to negotiate, but is instead killed in a hail of gunfire. Jake arrives home late into the night after a long day. He wears a look of disenchantment across his face. In less than 24 hours, that eager kid has turned into a disillusioned man. As he walks into his home carrying the bag of cash, a radio bulletin is heard. It’s eerily similar to the fake obit Alonzo threatened Jake with at Roger’s. “Decorated LAPD Detective Alonzo Harris was killed today while serving a high-risk warrant. His wife and three sons survive him.” With that, the film is over. The words Alonzo muttered couldn’t have been truer. “What a day. What a motherfuckin’ day.”
The film was initially set for release on September 21, 2001, but was delayed to October 5, 2001 (my third birthday) due to the 9/11 attacks. Critical reviews were generally positive. At the following year’s Academy Awards, Denzel Washington won Best Actor. With Halle Berry winning Best Actress, I believe it was the first and only year that black actors won both Best Actor and Best Actress. I think the win surprised lots of people. Russell Crowe swept the season for A Beautiful Mind and was expected to win his second Academy Award. Somehow, possibly due to Crowe’s bad-boy behavior or the overdue factor for Washington to have a Best Actor trophy (he won in Best Supporting Actor for Glory), the tide shifted, and Washington won. It’s not a bad performance by any means. It’s fun and over-the-top, but not one you would think of as Oscar-winning. The one thing I struggle with is Ethan Hawke’s nomination for Best Supporting Actor. I get the studio’s logic in splitting the campaign, but Hawke wasn’t supporting it. He was a co-lead of this movie. This is mainly Jake’s story. I don’t have a problem with Denzel being nominated and winning in lead, but I have a problem with Ethan Hawke being nominated in supporting.
I went into great detail about the plot. That wasn’t my intention. I just wanted to illustrate how different these two characters are and showcase how their differences drive the film. The script is tightly written (I’ve actually read it). I feel like there’s more I discover every time I re-watch the movie. It took me a long time to fully comprehend the subplot with the three wisemen, the buying of the warrant, and the killing of Roger. Maybe I just didn’t get it when I was younger? I’m not sure. In addition to securing Denzel his second win and Hawke his first nomination, the film launched the career of director Antoine Fuqua. He would go on to direct films like Shooter, Southpaw, Olympus Has Fallen, and reunite with Washington on the remake of The Magnificent Seven and the Equalizer trilogy. This truly is one of my favorite crime films. If you haven’t seen it, I suggest you add it to your watchlist. Until next time, thanks for reading.
