Denzel Washington is the star of the #1 most popular movie on Netflix in the United States today. Following its debut on the platform last week, subscribers are loving 2001’s Training Day, with the crime thriller ranking at the peak of the streamer’s Top 10 most-watched films list this Tuesday. French action flick Sentinelle, a Netflix original that recently dropped, has dominated the site for the last few days, but now Training Day has stolen its crown.
From director Antoine Fuqua and written by future Suicide Squad filmmaker David Ayer, Training Day stars Washington and Ethan Hawke as Alonzo Harris and Jake Hoyt, two LAPD narcotics officers, with the pic following them over the course of 24 hours as they delve deeper and deeper into the dark underbelly of Los Angeles. While Hawke’s Hoyt is a by-the-book cop, Washington’s Harris is known to be corrupt, and the extent of his twisted nature is revealed as the story progresses.
Training Day is one of those films that reviewers were lukewarm on but moviegoers love. On Rotten Tomatoes, it’s got a decent critics score of 73% yet a much higher audience score of 89%. The critical consensus praises Washington’s performance as the unhinged Harris and describes Fuqua’s picture as “a taut and brutal police drama,” but despite its popularity with fans, a sequel was never produced.
However, in 2017, CBS aired a Training Day TV series. Set in the present day, it featured new leads played by the late Bill Paxton and Justin Cornwell. Unfortunately, Paxton’s untimely death forced its cancellation after just one season, but Warner Bros. is dedicated to expanding the franchise and a prequel movie based around a young Alonzo Harris is in development.
No word yet on who they could get to replace Denzel Washington, but the original film’s current popularity on streaming certainly bodes well for the project, and if you haven’t already, be sure to catch Training Day on Netflix now.
Published: Mar 9, 2021 02:13 pm