As usual Washington is astounding. He grabs the screen like a vise and never lets go.
– Paul Clinton (CNN.com),
CNN.com,
8 Oct 2001
fresh:
Training Day is a tense, polished, well-made action thriller that suffers from bad timing.
– Rex Reed,
New York Observer,
11 Oct 2001
fresh:
Training Day isn't just one of the finest cops-and-robbers thrillers of recent years, full of devious twists and gut-grinding tension, but it also steers clear of convenient moral formulas.
– Andrew O'Hehir,
Salon.com,
12 Oct 2001
fresh:
On a purely visceral level, Training Day is easily the most exciting movie out there right now, but as a morality tale with anything large on its mind, it's a cop-out.
– Peter Rainer,
New York Magazine/Vulture,
22 Jan 2002
rotten:
If he makes it through the trial by fire -- and a blandly twisting plot with no meaningful revelations or substantial themes -- Hawke will get a promotion, but there's nothing in it for us.