Denzel Washington’s Most Terrifying Role Is This Oscar-Winning Performance

The Big Picture

• Denzel Washington’s performance in Training Day is captivating and unforgettable, showcasing his ability to play a twisted, morally ambiguous character.
• Director Antoine Fuqua’s decision to bring a “gangster” feel to the movie adds depth and intensity to Washington’s character, Alonzo Harris.
• Washington’s portrayal of Alonzo Harris drives the pace of the film, with every scene filled with his brashness, bravado, and sinister intent. His performance in Training Day rightfully earned him an Oscar.

The very first shot of Training Day is of the enormous rising morning sun welcoming in a new day. You can’t help but feel that director Antoine Fuqua and longtime collaborator Denzel Washington were already symbolizing the larger-than-life Los Angeles narcotics detective Alonzo Harris in what would be the actor’s first Best Actor Academy Award-winning performance. Alonzo is the sun, and everyone else in the movie is just smaller planets and moons revolving around the enormous star at the center of it all. Washington absolutely owns the screen and every scene he’s in, and you better keep up, or you’re going to get run over by the Washington locomotive. His turn as a corrupt cop who plays by his own set of rules is the performer at his very best. There are several reasons why the Oscar winner we normally love as the “good guy” in other Fuqua movies, like The Magnificent Seven and The Equalizer 3, totally deserved his Oscar win.

Denzel Washington Said Director Antoine Fuqua “Brought the Gangster”

When new partner Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) first meets Alonzo, the crooked cop is wearing a jet-black button-up shirt, two enormous gold chains, and a black skull cap to boot. It’s clear that Harris is a streetwise veteran and once he opens his mouth, Washington delivers that fast-talking, self-assured bottom line and never minces words. Every single thing that Alonzo says has meaning. His hydraulically pumped ride only furthers the gangster feel that Washington brings in the first five minutes of the film. And Fuqua should be given a good deal of the credit for the no-nonsense attitude that Washington brings.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Washington shared how the studio wanted to make something like a Lethal Weapon buddy cop movie, but Fuqua wasn’t having it. Washington gave him credit, saying that “Antoine was the one who brought the gangster to it” and, “I don’t think that the part was intended for a Black guy.” Can you imagine anyone else in the 2001 film? Smooth-talking alpha is what Washington plays better than just about anybody else working. This was the beginning of a beautiful friendship and a fruitful working relationship between Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua which is still going strong with The Equalizer 3.

The Pairing With Ethan Hawke Allows Washington To Shine as a Villain

It also helps that his new partner Hoyt is a doe-eyed rookie who is willing to do just about anything to please the salty cop in order to be a permanent part of the narcotics squad. You already have one of the biggest alphas in the entire industry, so pairing him with a beta-type pushover (at least at the beginning of the movie) is the perfect dichotomy. Hoyt’s by-the-book mentality is the perfect foil for a tough guy like Alonzo to show just how twisted he can be, and man, does Alonzo go complete psycho mode by the end of the film. At best, Denzel Washington’s Alonzo has a very loose moral compass and at worst he is a bona fide cold-blooded killer. And he makes it crystal clear to his new rookie partner that he better toughen up fast or the streets are going to eat him alive.

Alonzo tells Hoyt, “To protect the sheep you got to catch the wolf. And you gotta be a wolf to catch a wolf! You gotta be a wolf to kill the wolf!” And the two start to howl like crazy right there in the car. Hoyt is reluctant to capitulate even as Alonzo Harris continues to intimidate and berate the young cop. Is Alonzo trying to make sure that Hoyt is better prepared to protect himself, or to protect Alonzo for what he knows will happen later in the day? Maybe from the moment they sit down together in that diner to meet, Alonzo is simply psychologically grooming Hoyt, so he can turn him into his lapdog later on when the shit really starts to hit the fan. He’s going to need his partner to vouch for him.

Denzel Washington Controls ‘Training Day’s Pace

The deliciously diabolical Denzel drives the story both figuratively and literally. As the driver of the car, he takes Hoyt wherever he wants to go and expects his partner to learn on the fly. What he’s teaching him, however, is how to be the most crooked cop in all of L.A., from giving out random Chinese food menus and telling unsuspecting people that they are search warrants to both extortion and murder. Washington wields such gravitas that we’ve seen him spin so marvelously in the past in films like Malcolm X, Philadelphia, and The Hurricane, but this time he uses his considerable powers for evil, which may be what got him the Oscar that he could have won for any one of those three “good guy” movies.

Sometimes the voters love to reward the nefarious villain more than the part that they may feel like they’ve seen many times before. The way Washington owns the space and time in every scene in Training Day completely drives the pace of the film. His performance makes you feel like he’s so incredibly comfortable and cavalier in Alonzo’s skin, and that this was the role he was born to play. He’s treating the audience to a no-holds-barred and crisp performance, evil as he may be.

Even in a nice restaurant with a table full of crooked judges and officials that have the power to ruin his career, Denzel Washington’s Alonzo steers the conversation, and by the end of the lunch meeting, there is no doubt which one of them is willing to go the furthest to cover his own ass. Washington is so incredibly sure of himself and Hoyt feels like he’s playing catch-up all day, but he can’t because Alonzo is consistently three chess moves ahead of his partner and the rest of us. His brashness and bravado are easily the best the highly decorated actor has ever brought to the big screen, and he was rightfully rewarded for it.

Denzel Washington’s Performance in ‘Training Day’ Is Oscar Gold

Alonzo Harris may be the dirtiest cop on the beat, but it’s not until he takes Hoyt along on a drug bust and kills Roger (Scott Glenn) that you realize just how effed up he really is. When Hoyt refuses to kill an unarmed Roger in cold blood, Alonzo is more than willing to unload a shotgun blast from point-blank range into Roger’s chest. He then starts to go into detail about how he has been planning the staged drug deal gone wrong not only all day, but all week. That kind of premeditation, manipulation, and gaslighting can only come from the mind of a true psychopath. He owns the streets, and if you’re unfortunate to come across his murderous path, he will completely screw you over to get what he wants. And he justifies it to Hoyt, barking, “The shit’s chess not checkers!” And the unforgettable line that sealed the actor’s long journey to the Best Actor Oscar. “King Kong ain’t got shit on me!!” No, he doesn’t Denzel, not for the two-hour runtime of Training Day.

Training Day is available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.

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