Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Training Day 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Smiles and cries. (Mostly smiles, though.)

Reviewed by Randy Miller III February 22, 2023

Antoine Fuqua's perpetually watchable Training Day was a major departure for star Denzel Washington who, along with co-star Ethan Hawke, turned in some of his most bracing work for this amplified tale of "good cop, bad cop" during one particularly eventful day in Los Angeles. It's a tightly paced and almost relentless film that set the stage for some of the decade's most defining police-themed entertainment like Shawn Ryan's The Shield, focusing on a crafty, silver-tongued anti-hero whose questionable approach to law enforcement made for a rocky but unforgettable ride.

Up until now, WB's 2006 Blu-ray, issued during the early days of that format (alongside their HD DVD, an abandoned format that the studio also represented during an extremely confusing period in home video history) was Training Day's last HD release on disc. Its creaky DVD-era master, now almost old enough to sign up for police academy, finally gets revamped on physical media with this brand-new 4K combo pack: sporting a revitalized, 2160p/HDR10 transfer and a similarly remastered Blu-ray, die-hard fans of the film can finally force their old discs into retirement.

For a synopsis and appreciation of the film, please see Martin Liebman's linked review of WB's old Blu-ray. I can't quite award Training Day the full five stars, but this is unquestionably an entertaining and well-made "24-hour thriller" -- it's clearly the director's best work in my eyes, which ain't bad for only his third time in the driver's seat.

Training Day 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

On paper, it's hard to find fault with Training Day's revitalized 2160p, HDR10 transfer: when compared to the generally flat and lifeless 2006 Blu-ray, with its DVD-era master and limp MPEG-2 encoding, this should basically be a landslide. And it certainly is in the areas of fine detail, grain, black levels, depth, overall saturation, contrast stability, and more, with a thick and film-like appearance that perfectly suits Training Day's colorful, gritty world. Framing is even opened up slightly despite the near-identical 2.35:1 aspect ratio, thanks to the fact that WB's earlier transfer was stretched by about 5%. On a strictly pound-for-pound basis, it's a near-total improvement in every major department.

The elephant in the room is Training Day's new color palette, which leans much heavier on green and teal values than its warmer Blu-ray counterpart. It's not a blanket recoloring job, though: while these cooler hues are present in almost every frame to some extent, they're applied more liberally to darker elements to create more of a vibrant "push-and-pull" effect that leads to a lot more visual interest than the much flatter 2006 presentation. Overall, I like the changes, with the obvious caveat that a true theatrical reference point was not available as a reference. But please remember that most DVD-era masters -- and the early Blu-rays that used them -- often leaned artificially warm which, over time, has clearly skewed our perspective of what true accuracy looks like... so for all I know, Training Day's "new" palette might actually be closer to what audiences saw in theaters circa 2001. The change will require more of an adjustment for the film's "home video fans"; it's not as drastic as, say Goodfellas, but I still think a middle-ground approach would have yielded better results. (It's also a bit dark in spots, which is more evident on these 1080p/SDR screenshots, but such moments are few and far-between.) I'll nonetheless award the 4K presentation a soft 4.25/5, based mostly on its first-paragraph strengths, with a disclaimer that some will be more able to accept the new palette than others.

Also included in this package -- and the source for this review's screenshots -- is a similarly remastered Blu-ray, which is quite the rarity for a Warner Bros. catalog release. Even without the obvious boost from its native 4K source material or HDR10 enhancement, this 1080p transfer offers a noticeably more vibrant and film-like picture than the 2006 Blu-ray. It likewise might rate a little higher than my 4/5 rating suggests; proportionately, both discs offer a very capable presentation that most fans will be pleased with. But while the Blu-ray trades in HDR's more vivid hues -- sometimes for the better, in my opinion -- for less dialed-in contrast, black levels, and highlights, it tends to struggle a little with compression-related issues, showing sporadic signs of noise and macro-blocking during scenes with higher grain levels. Nonetheless, this remastered Blu-ray offers a strong enough upgrade -- especially combined with the new Atmos track, detailed below -- to recommend as a "future-proof" purchase for those who haven't moved on to 4K yet.

Training Day 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Training Day's audio gets a much-deserved upgrade, too: WB's policy of including lossy audio tracks on earlier HD titles was in full effect for their 2006 Blu-ray, so catapulting from Dolby Digital 5.1 to full-fledged Atmos yields unsurprisingly great results. (Sadly, there's a bit of controversy here as well: the original 5.1 mix has not been preserved, which is my reason for the half-point audio deduction.) Otherwise it's as an impressive a track as they come, with a forceful but not overcooked mix that places dialogue front and center with plenty of room left over for discrete activity, ample low end, and of course the trunk-rattling soundtrack cuts. It's fine work and nicely nuanced, with the solid dynamic range you'd expect from an A-list studio film produced during the last few decades. Height channels are likewise put to good use for overhead effects and room echoes, but otherwise don't factor into the mix regularly. Those without Atmos capabilities, as usual, will be happy to know that receivers automatically fold it down to a lossless Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track, which is perhaps a bit closer to the original 5.1 experience though still more "seasoned" in directional activity.

Optional subtitles, including English (SDH), are included during the main feature and applicate extras.

Training Day 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This two-disc release ships in a dual-hubbed keepcase with new cover art, a matching slipcover, and a Digital Copy code. The ancient extras below are recycled from WB's 2006 Blu-ray and mostly found on the 1080p disc. Although newly encoded in AVC at a decent bit rate, these are substandard SD at best and look extremely rough. As an aside, it's interesting that every other aspect of this 4K package seems to fully distance itself from the old Blu-ray, but for whatever reason WB couldn't be bothered to boost the bonus features a little. Also, Nelly sucks.

4K DISC

• Audio Commentary - A solo track with director Antoine Fuqua.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Audio Commentary - Same as above.

• Deleted Scenes (12:33)

• Alternate Ending (4:46)

• "Training Day": Crossing the Line (15:02) - The exact same mid-length featurette as "The Making of Training Day" on previous home video releases, just with a corrected title.

• Music Videos

• Nelly "#1" (4:10) - Featuring that stupid Band-Aid.
• Pharoahe Monch "Got You" (4:21) - Featuring store-brand Ethan Hawke.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:24) - Also available online here.

Training Day 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Antoine Fuqua's Training Day is the director's best film, with a tight pace and outstanding leads in Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. Sure, it's ripe with scenery chewing and a few ridiculous scenarios, but that's all part of its over-the-top charm; I've seen it countless times and it never fails to entertain. WB's welcome new 4K/Blu-ray combo pack finally gives Training Day a much-needed facelift and, while the results aren't perfect, they're a clear step up from the studio's 2006 Blu-ray... and hey, we get a solid Atmos track and a new 1080p disc to boot. The extras are ancient, but this is a strong enough effort to recommend on its technical merits alone. A solid blind buy for newcomers, too.