The important thing to remember about the 2001 film Training Day is the context in which it was filmed and released. The decade of the '90s were scattered with serious issues of police brutality, and the Los Angeles Police Department was at the center of the storm. Thus, Denzel Washington's and Ethan Hawke's foray into the Southern California underworld -- and the seriously crooked behavior by Washington and his cop colleagues -- can really be interpreted as something greater: A glimpse into a specific place and time where a story like this not only made a lot of sense, but was almost expected. The backdealing, the violence, the betrayal... it's all here in Training Day, one of the most tense movies perhaps ever made. And hey, just remember: Stay off of the rover.
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