Training Day

A charming, charismatic dickhead taking a rookie cop straight to the deep end - all while covering his tracks from the very beginning. Denzel Washington’s performance in this is so natural and magnetic; selling the character so well you genuinely forget that he’s actually ‘acting’. Alonzo tests the waters very early on with Jake, putting him in morally grey positions time after time; with each new position presenting higher stakes.  Till eventually we reach the big bust scene, where the switch up is violent. It genuinely begins to feel like a different movie. The first half makes you think it’s going to be a buddy comedy set within a crime setting; the 2nd half however flips that on its head completely with next to no whiplash. The remainder of the movie has you 2nd guessing each outcome, until those final few minutes where the inevitable becomes clear. Denzel Washington elevated this movie and leaves a long lasting impression once you’re done with it. So so satisfying.