TRAINING DAY 15 2001

Washington great…

Even big stars like Denzel can’t resist a knock-off bargain. ‘Suny’, though?

★★★★✩

OUT 25 AUGUST CINEMAS

Three outings as Robert McCall under Antoine Fuqua’s direction have turned two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington into something of a Sequelizer. In 2001, however, they teamed up on a project that had the potential to take both their careers down fresh paths.

In Washington’s case, here was an opportunity to show that he could be just as compelling playing an out-and-out villain as he had been portraying paragons of virtue in various biopics and earnest dramas. For Fuqua, meanwhile, this was a chance to gain a bigger big-screen profile after helming music videos and films such as The Replacement Killers (1998). Two decades on, this cinema rerelease (in a new 4K restoration) of the duo’s first collaboration is proof they both succeeded.

Tightly written by David Ayer, crisply edited by Conrad Buff and cannily cast right down to the lowest gun-toting gangbanger, this gripping portrait of the ultimate dirty cop (Washington’s Alonzo) and the callow rookie he takes under his wing (Ethan Hawke’s Jake) remains a propulsive police thriller. OK, so Hawke’s chief role in proceedings is not to get burned by the scorching heat of his co-star’s glorious grandstanding. But as the film’s lone bastion of morality, he exudes plausible integrity. Hawke earned a Supporting Actor Oscar nod, but the film’s big win went, of course, to Washington, who became the first Black Best Actor since Sidney Poitier in ’64.

FOLLOWING 15 1998

Nolan begins…

★★★★✩

OUT NOW BD

EXTRAS ★★★★✩ Commentary, Featurettes, Short, Booklet

Made for a few thousand pounds and shot guerrilla-style in Soho, London, Christopher Nolan’s feature debut is an ingenious black-and-white noir.

Inspired by a burglary in the flat Nolan shared with producer/partner Emma Thomas, it concerns a struggling writer (Jeremy Theobald) who follows random people in the street. One of these is Cobb (Alex Haw), a professional thief who likes to break into people’s houses as much for the power trip as for the profit. Throw in a fatale-ish love interest (Lucy Russell), and you have all the ingredients of a Hollywood thriller, only without any bloat. Several of Nolan’s future preoccupations are here in fledgling form: a fractured narrative, a lost soul who turns his life into a movie plot… There’s even a Batman sticker in one shot.

Available for the first time on Blu-ray, the restored film looks gorgeous in all its inky imperfection, boasting an array of extras that belie its age and budget: interviews (including Nolan’s brother Jonathan, who worked as a grip), a commentary with Theobald and TF’s own James Mottram, a locations featurette and Nolan’s 1997 short Doodlebug. Nolan shot the film one day a week for months, rehearsing heavily beforehand and using available light wherever possible. Besides the occasional awkward performance it’s an object lesson in micro-budget filmmaking. Future Nolans take note…