Ethan Hawke’s character has a pretty bad day in Training Day (2001). Training Day is a movie about a rookie LAPD Officer (Hawke) who is being trained by a veteran, and corrupt, narcotics detective (Denzel Washington). And, let me tell you, Washington’s character really puts Hawke’s through the wringer.
Um, spoilers, obviously. Here is a run down of Ethan Hawke’s day in this movie while spending time with Washington. First he wakes up at five am, he is denied breakfast, he has his previous experience on the force mocked, Washington makes derogatory and sexist comments about Hawke’s wife, Washington has Hawke point his gun at a bunch of college kids, Washington tricks Hawke into smoking weed laced with LSD, Washington pressures Hawke into drinking on the job, Washington tricks Hawke into helping him steal money by using a fake warrant, Washington then kills a man and blackmails Hawke into taking the fall, Washington then abandons Hawke at a gangster’s house where he is beaten and almost killed, Hawke then goes on a mission to get revenge, gets in a shoot out with Washington, chases him on roof tops, gets beaten again, jumps off a building onto the hood of a moving car, is then tossed off the moving car when it crashes, and then finally has to question the morality of his job and what it takes to be a good officer is a crooked world. And that is all from sunrise to a little after sunset. What a terrible day.
And, since it was Hawke’s first day, it was probably a Monday. If that’s your Monday, what’s your Tuesday like? Like, Hawke still has four more days until its the weekend and he can relax. Terrible day and probably an even worse week.
