Crooked-cop films are the ultimate twist on the cops and robbers genre. Denzel Washington put on one of the most memorable performances of his career while Sylvester Stallone transformed from his usual musclebound action hero to an overweight cop steeped in naivety. The protagonists are tasked with traversing the moral complexity of taking down their corrupt counterparts who don’t operate with a rulebook. Enjoy your training day with Kyle, Drew, and Phil. Click here to become an executive producer on Movie Wars by supporting us on Patreon! A measly $7 gets you access to Kyle’s new 15-minute show “Filmosophy”, interviews with legendary filmmakers, Host Q and A, and bonus content.
FIlm Summaries
Training Day
Police drama about a veteran officer who escorts a rookie on his first day with the LAPD's tough inner-city narcotics unit. "Training Day" is a blistering action drama that asks the audience to decide what is necessary, what is heroic and what crosses the line in the harrowing gray zone of fighting urban crime. Does law-abiding law enforcement come at the expense of justice and public safety? If so, do we demand safe streets at any cost?
Rating:
R (Drug Content|Brief Nudity|Pervasive Language|Strong Brutal Violence)
Genre:
Crime, Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language:
English
Director:
Antoine Fuqua
Producer:
Jeffrey Silver, Bobby Newmyer
Writer:
David Ayer
Release Date (Theaters):
Oct 5, 2001 Wide
Release Date (Streaming):
Mar 19, 2002
Box Office (Gross USA):
$76.3M
(courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/training_day)
Cop Land
When hotheaded Superboy (Michael Rapaport) accidentally gets involved in an ugly racially-motivated incident, his uncle Ray Donlan (Harvey Keitel), a corrupt New York City cop, attempts to sweep it under the rug by helping fake his nephew's death. The bungled cover-up leads to investigations by idealistic Internal Affairs officer Moe Tilden (Robert De Niro) and Freddy Heflin (Sylvester Stallone), sheriff of the suburban New Jersey town where Donlan and his fellow crooked policemen live.
Rating:
R (Strong Language|Brief Nudity|Violence)
Genre:
Crime, Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language:
English
Director:
James Mangold
Producer:
Cary Woods, Ezra Swerdlow, Cathy Konrad
Writer:
James Mangold
Release Date (Theaters):
Aug 15, 1997 Original
Release Date (Streaming):
Jul 2, 2002
Box Office (Gross USA):
$44.9M
Runtime:
1h 45m
(info courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cop_land)