Training Day:Study of Ethics

This movie is effective in its structure because of the great imbalance of the two main characters, Ethan Hawke and Denzel. Hawke's character learns from a very early part of the story that the way Alonzo (Denzel) does business is a little different then Hawke's previous experience as a rookie cop. Hawke quickly finds himself in a moral dillemma. Should he do the right thing and not prosper individually or should he look the other way and welcome his oncoming success. Hawke's character represents youth and naivete. He is unsure of Alonzo's real intentions for him, but he does give the controversial figure respect. Hawke throughout the film must decide whether or not he is not only cut out for the force, but also able to work under an egotistical trigger-happy psychopath.
The theme of experience verse youth can be seen in the majority of the works we have watched so far in class. Usually the experienced cop can show guidance to the young cop and in the process of them working together the elderly cop can not only help make the younger cop a better officer, but also a better man. The greatest twist in Training Day is that the elder cop, although more experienced, wants to get Jake (Hawke) into corruption, drugs, and murder. Alonzo's claim to always "do what you need to do" is a nice basic philosophy to success, but among the things Alonzo needs to do is trick his partner into smoking PCP, stealing money and planting narcotics, and murdering and robbing a good friend. Alonzo represents the mature failure of a man. He is old enough and smart enough to live a good successful clean life, but he chooses sin and corruption as an outlet for being a police officer.