‘Training Day’: Someone Call 911 for Bill Paxton
Yes, it’s based on the 2001 police film that won Denzel Washington his second Oscar as a vicious, dirty, undeniably skilled cop. But the new Training Day that premieres on Thursday is unlikely to prove Emmy-worthy for the rule-breaking role taken over here by Bill Paxton. I love Paxton’s work, not just in Big Love but also in films such as Nightcrawler, Apollo 13, and Twister. I like seeing him on talk shows; he’s interesting and funny when he wants to be. But here, playing what CBS likes to call a “morally ambiguous” police detective named Frank Rourke, Paxton is hemmed in by lousy dialogue and broadcast-network-predictable plot lines.
In the premiere, Rourke is paired with a new partner, Kyle Craig, played by Justin Cornwell. Kyle is a good guy, but haunted by the death of his cop father. How do we know? His wife tells him, “You’re chasing your father’s ghost.” Kyle’s boss, played by Blindspot’s Marianne Jean-Baptiste, orders him to go undercover to essentially entrap Rourke. He’s in for a wild ride — if you consider Rourke driving their patrol car too fast while blasting AC/DC a wild ride.
Rourke’s moral ambiguity is indicated by a number of contrasting scenes. Sometimes he roughs up suspects a tad too harshly; the next moment, he’s being kind to a child. We’re supposed to think he’s being both realistic and gravely cynical when he offers his new partner this advice: “You wanna fight monsters, Kyle? Then you better be willing to become one yourself!”
Will Kyle become a monster equal to that of Rourke and his crew of enablers? One of the latter is Julie Benz, stuck playing a high-class prostitute who actually introduces herself to Kyle by saying, “Holly Butler, Hollywood madam — has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?” Um, no. Toward the end of the premiere, Frank tells Kyle, “Training day’s over. You flunked.” So does this show.
Training Day airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. on CBS.
