Editing Training Day (section)

===Critical response===
{{RT prose|74|3=170|4=The ending may be less than satisfying, but Denzel Washington reminds us why he's such a great actor in this taut and brutal police drama.|ref=yes|access-date=January 27, 2024}} {{MC film|71|36|ref=yes|access-date=2023-08-23}} Audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.<ref name="CinemaScore">{{cite web |url= https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |title= CinemaScore |work= cinemascore.com |access-date= |archive-date=December 20, 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181220122629/https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |url-status= live }}</ref>

''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' film critic [[Roger Ebert]] said: "Washington seems to enjoy a performance that's over the top and down the other side".<ref name=Ebert>{{cite news |title=Training Day |first=Roger |last=Ebert |author-link=Roger Ebert |date=2001-10-05 |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20011005/REVIEWS/110050305/1023 |access-date=2012-04-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305142530/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20011005%2FREVIEWS%2F110050305%2F1023 |archive-date=2012-03-05}}</ref> Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, praising both the lead and supporting actors and the film's gritty, kinetic energy. He criticized the plot's implausibility, but praised its execution, stating: "Ayer's screenplay is ingenious in the way it plants clues and pays them off in unexpected ways, so that ''Training Day'' makes as much sense as movies like this usually can."<ref name=Ebert/>

Writing in ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'', Michael Rechtshaffen gave the film a positive review, stating: "Denzel Washington ventures into the dark side as a seriously corrupt narcotics cop...  and the results are electrifying. So is the picture, thanks to taut, sinewy direction by Antoine Fuqua and a compelling script by David Ayer."<ref>{{cite magazine |title='Training Day': THR's 2001 Review |first=Michael |last=Rechtshaffen |date=2016-09-12 |orig-date=2001-09-04 |magazine=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/training-day-2001-movie-review-926939/ |access-date=2023-08-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020134534/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/training-day-2001-movie-review-926939/ |archive-date=2021-10-20 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Denzel Washington's performance as Detective Alonzo Harris was highly praised by critics. In ''[[The Village Voice]]'', [[Amy Taubin]] wrote that his "old-fashioned combination of decency and sexiness suggests the African American counterpart to [[Gregory Peck]] (in his ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]'' period), as an LAPD cop so evil he makes [[Harvey Keitel]]'s ''[[Bad Lieutenant]]'' look like even smaller potatoes than he was meant to be".<ref>{{cite news |title=Temples of the Familiar |first=Amy |last=Taubin |author-link=Amy Taubin |newspaper=[[The Village Voice]] |date=2001-10-02 |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2001-10-02/film/temples-of-the-familiar/ |access-date=August 10, 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 23, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223120636/http://www.villagevoice.com/2001-10-02/film/temples-of-the-familiar/}}</ref>