Training Day 4K review

Feb 22, 2023- Permalink

Warner Brothers is releasing Antoine Fuqua’s 2001 movie Training Day on 4K. The movie, which earned Denzel Washington a Best Actor Oscar, stars Washington as Alonzo Harris, a veteran undercover narcotics officer assigned to train rookie Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke). The two men have different views of justice. Whereas Hoyt is idealistic, Harris’ view of the world is, well, different and that sets up the clash of values that permeates throughout this gritty film. I had a chance to look at the disc. The WB likes disclaimers, so here goes: Though Warner Brothers provided me with a copy of this release to review, the thoughts and opinions below are mine.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with HDR10 is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. This remastered 4K looks great, with clarity and detail in the facial features, textiles and environments. A natural layer of grain is present and the black levels and HDR really preserves details in the shadows and darker scenes without any crushing. The colour palette is natural with an edge towards green and teal tones. It’s an excellent video presentation.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English Dolby Atmos that folds back to English Dolby TrueHD 7.1, as well as French Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0, Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0, and German, Italian, Czech and Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available for English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Cantonese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Norwegian, Romanian, and Swedish. The soundscape puts you into the downtown LA scene with ambient and action effects moving throughout the surrounds with the Atmos height channels adding to certain scenes. The low-end of the mix adds power to gunshots, engine rumbles and the bass in the soundtrack. The score sounds great and dialogue is clear, centred and well prioritized in the mix.

The 4K set comes with a Blu-ray disc as well and a digital code. As for extras, the set comes with standard definition features from the original DVD release. While the audio commentary from director Antoine Fuqua appears on the 4K, the rest are on the Blu-ray. They include an alternate ending, deleted scenes, a “Crossing the Line featurette, a couple of music video, and the theatrical trailer.

The Training Day 4K combines Denzel Washington’s award-winning performance with excellent audio and video. I’d recommend adding it to your home entertainment library.