Denzel Washington took home his second Oscar for his portrayal of a corrupt LA narcotics detective in Director Antoine Fuqua’s Training Day, now making its 4K debut courtesy of Warner Bros.
The Production: 4/5
It is Jake Hoyt’s (Ethan Hawke) first day as a plainclothes narcotics officer on the streets of Los Angeles and has been teamed up with Detective Alonso Harris (Denzel Washington) as his training officer. Jake learns right off the bat that Alonso tends to play by his own rules, preferring to meet up at a coffee shop rather than the precinct to start the day. Things quickly escalate from bad to worse throughout the day and Jake sees firsthand just how corrupt Alonso and his fellow detectives are, as well as their superiors (played by Tom Berenger, Lou Jacobs and Doug Rosselli). This is a powder keg of a movie, and although some of the situations Jake and Alonso find themselves in are a bit over the top, the screenplay by David Ayer (End of Watch, Suicide Squad) and direction by Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer) keep the story moving at such a brisk pace, it is easy for the audience to just go along for the ride.
Training Day is the movie that really elevated Antoine Fuqua to acclaimed status as a young director after starting in music videos and then graduating to features with the largely forgotten The Replacement Killers with Chow Yun-Fat and Mira Sorvino followed by Bait with Jamie Foxx. Training Day also marked his first collaborations with Washington and Hawke, directing both in three later pictures (all three would re-team on Magnificent Seven). Both actors also received Oscar nominations for their performances, Hawke in the Supporting Actor category and Washington taking home his second statue, this time for Best Actor.
Video: 4.5/5
3D Rating: NA
Training Day was photographed on 35mm film stock using Arriflex 435, Moviecam Compact and Moviecam SL cameras by Mauro Fiore (Avatar), completed photochemically on 35mm in the 2.39:1 aspect ratio. Warner has created a new 4K scan of the film for this release, and the HEVC-encoded transfer includes HDR10 high dynamic range grading. This is a gorgeous transfer, capturing both the beauty and grit of Los Angeles, and a definite upgrade from the previous DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-ray releases, all of which used MPEG-2 compression. Some color tweaking has been done, giving the film a cooler appearance at times with its bluish tones. The native 4K transfer does exhibit a high level of detail, particularly in facial features and fabric textures. Contrast is excellent, providing deep blacks with strong shadow detail, particularly in Roger’s (Scott Glenn’s) shade-drawn house and the later nighttime sequences. Those sequences are extremely dark and may suffer on UHD displays that lack good HDR capabilities. For those that have not upgraded to 4K, the included Blu-ray is remastered, sourced from the new 4K scan and compressed with the AVC codec.
Audio: 5/5
While the previous DVD, Blu-ray and HD-DVD releases included a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 track, this new UHD and remastered Blu-ray have been upgraded with a newly mixed Dolby Atmos track that is Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible. The track has a wide front soundstage with excellent stereo separation, deep bass thanks to an active LFE track, active surrounds and heights are engaged for chopper flyovers and such. Dialogue remains clear and understandable throughout.
Special Features: 2/5
Kudos to Warner for including the commentary track on the UHD disc, but major deductions for whomever was in charge of the extras that have been ported over from the DVD release, as all have been very poorly upscaled to HD. It should also be noted that my review copy arrived in a 2-disc Blu-ray eco keepcase with the artwork and slipcover for the 4K UHD Blu-ray release.
UHD Disc
Audio Commentary by Director Antoine Fuqua: Fuqua speaks with few pauses and he discusses the making of the film.
Blu-ray Disc
Audio Commentary by Director Antoine Fuqua
Training Day: Crossing the Line (upscaled 1080i; 15:03): A behind the scenes look at the making of the film.
Alternate Ending (upscaled 1080p; 4:48): Almost unwatchable due to the interlacing issues and muddy transfer.
Deleted Scenes (upscaled 1080p; 12:34): These five scenes are nearly unwatchable due to the interlacing issues and muddy transfer.
Nelly #1 Music Video (upscaled 1080p; 4:11)
Pharoahe Monch Got You Music Video (upscaled 1080p; 4:22)
Theatrical Trailer (upscaled 1080p; 2:27): In addition to some interlacing issues, the trailer also suffers from dropped frames.
Digital Copy: An insert contains a code to redeem a digital copy in UHD on Movies Anywhere.
Overall: 4/5
The UHD release of Training Day gives us a new transfer on both the UHD and Blu-ray discs, but the special features are nearly unwatchable due to the poor attempt to upscale them to HD.
Training Day (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital) [4K…
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Todd Erwin has been a reviewer at Home Theater Forum since 2008. His love of movies began as a young child, first showing Super 8 movies in his backyard during the summer to friends and neighbors at age 10. He also received his first movie camera that year, a hand-crank Wollensak 8mm with three fixed lenses. In 1980, he graduated to "talkies" with his award-winning short The Ape-Man, followed by the cult favorite The Adventures of Terrific Man two years later. Other films include Myth or Fact: The Talbert Terror and Warren's Revenge (which is currently being restored). In addition to movie reviews, Todd has written many articles for Home Theater Forum centering mostly on streaming as well as an occasional hardware review, is the host of his own video podcast Streaming News & Views on YouTube and is a frequent guest on the Home Theater United podcast.
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