MovieChat Forums > Training Day (2001) Discussion > Alonzo leaving Jake with the Hispanic ga...

Alonzo leaving Jake with the Hispanic gangsters was part of his test

posted 9 years ago by poopsmith-08514
17 replies | jump to latest

He wasn't trying to get Jake killed, he was putting him through a test. He let that girl go at the beginning because he knew who she was. Had he arrested her, he couldn't have conducted the exercise. He knew the gangsters would find the wallet on Jake, and Jake would be able to get his way out of the situation. Perhaps it was to test his mental toughness more than anything. But he had that situation under control and knew that, while it would be uncomfortable, Jake was in no real danger.

[–] quangjle 8 years ago

How could he arrest her? She did not commit a crime.

[–] Lootrock (149) 8 years ago

Given how remarkably unsurprised he was when Jake busted through the door at the end, I'm inclined to think to believe the OP while also a including the possibility of Jake being killed as an agreeable alternative.

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 6 years ago

Fuqua himself admits this.

Not that it was part of the test, but that audiences often think it was because of Alonzo's reaction to Hoyt's survival.

Fuqua attributes this misconception to Alonzo's natural charisma - people want to believe he's good, deep down underneath

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 5 years ago

CLARIFICATION:

Fuqua meant that DENZEL was so charismatic that audiences wanted to believe ALONZO was still good deep down underneath.

THAT's why a lot of them believe, even for a little while, that everything was part of Jake's "training day," including the Mexicans

[–] LiquidOcelot (2424) 5 years ago

Wow so many idiots here. Alonzo was clearly acting unsurprised and you fell for it. It's a survival instinct, he's not going to just admit he tried to have Jake killed.

[–] spurtle467 (1551) 5 years ago

There is absolutely no benefit for Alonzo in Jake passing such a test. He knows he isn't corruptible up to that point. And after setting him up to be killed how do you think he could ever win Jake over? The only likelihood is that Jake would be pissed and seek to take Alonzo down one way or another. Unless Alonzo is incredibly stupid he would know that. It's obviously why he wanted him out of the picture to begin with.