Denzel Washington

Justin Schwartz jkschw at hotmail.com
Wed Mar 27 21:14:07 PST 2002


I thought Training Day was OK. The best scene was the one in the restaurant where the Washington character meets the corrupt white power brokers. The coincidence that saves his white partner's life is not credible, nor is the idea that the hoodlums would blow off his head in their bathtub with a shotgun, it would make a mess, wreck the tub. Washington did not strike me as a credible bad guy. He doesn't have nearly as much fun in the role as he should. Al Pacino, for example, is much better at this sort of thing. W deserves an Oscar, but for Hurricane, say.

As for Halle Berry, she's awesomely gorgeous, possibly one of the most beautiful women in the movies since Marilyn. But she can't lay a glove on Marilyn as an actress, or on Katherine Hepburn, to mention someone closer to her physical type. I admit I have not seen Monster's Ball, although I'd normally be happy to watch her in anything (or nothing at all), and to see Billy Bob Thornton act in anything. Now there's an actor, Thornton, I mean. He's as good as they come these days. He deserves an Oscar for The Man Who Wasn't There.

jks

jks

Nathan said:
>
>The progressive aspect of the film is that it is a harsh condemnation of
>police brutality-- it starts off with Denzel promoting the idea that
>liberal
>types don't understand what is needed to fight crime and even promotes the
>idea that black tough cops like Denzel's Olanza represent what the
>community
>really wants to fight the scum in the community. And yeah, it takes one to
>know one, but as long as the job is getting done, why degrudge a bit of a
>taste to the guardian of the community? And Denzel uses all of his
>charisma
>to sell that viewpoint initially, taking in his young liberal-minded white
>colleague Ethan Hawke.
>
>And then the whole story gets flipped, as the true brutality of Alonzo
>comes
>out. The end story goes a bit over the top in the degree of violence and
>convoluted plot, but it's a harsh story that reveals that this kind of
>police brutality is not supported by the community either. Denzel is not
>playing an antihero as representatve of the black community, but to
>highlight that he is a betrayer of that community.
>
>Nathan Newman
>nathan at newman.org
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Max Sawicky" <sawicky at bellatlantic.net>
>To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
>Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2002 6:36 PM
>Subject: RE: Denzel Washington
>
>
>Jaded my fanny. The Harris character is a complete
>gangster. Having a little son doesn't do much to
>humanize him. It doesn't stop him from waging a
>wild gun battle in his girlfriend's apartment, while
>the little one is toddling about.
>
>Washington is good in the role, the story is interesting
>and hangs together, but it sounds like the writer(s) are
>missing the point. The nature of the breakout, career-wise,
>is that DZ plays a completely evil person rather than a
>protagonist. Much worse than, say, the Fishburne
>character (Bumpy Johnson, I think) in that other movie
>with Vanessa Williams, whose title ("Hoodlum"?) escapes
>me. Fishburne only murders white gangsters and corrupt
>cops, and tells Williams (who plays a Salvation Army
>type) that more honorable careers are closed to him.
>
>The irony in the mundane title of Training Day is that the
>new recruit basically goes through Hell, with Harris as host.
>
>mbs
>
>
> > In _Training Day_ . . .Washington plays Alonzo Harris, an
> > ambitious yet
> > jaded narcotics officer compromised by his own pragmatism. . . .Training
>. . .
> >
> > Alonzo, a veteran of the Machiavellian war on drugs waged
> > in the very
> > communities he comes from, has grown into an accomplished cynic ready to
> > get out of narcotics and apss the torch to Hoyt, in whom he sees
> > promise. . . .
>
>
>

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