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"Someone Forgot to
Look at the Gameplan..." |
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Directed by McG -
Written by Jamie Linden
Matthew McConaughey,
Matthew Fox, David
Strathairn, Ian McShane
Kate Mara, Kimberley
Williams-Paisley
Distributed by Warner
Bros. -
2006 - 120m - Rated PG |
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Richard Propes'
Review
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D+ |
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I have a new appreciation for Josh Lucas. |
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I admit it. I was kind
of rough on the guy following "Glory Road," Disney's surprisingly
successful basketball flick that captured the magic of just about
every coaching caricature known to man.
"Glory Road" dealt mildly realistically with the realities of racism
in basketball during Texas Western's trip to the NCAA Championship,
despite the fact that several of the film's key scenes were of
events that never actually happened.
I could never figure out the logic in using untrue events to make a
powerful point about racism. Josh Lucas was adequate, in my opinion,
but lacked the fire, spirit and authenticity of coaches from great
sports films such as the great "Hoosiers." Still, the film caught on
with the moviegoing public as even in its mediocrity it was the best
sports-related feature flick to hit the market in recent months.
I THOUGHT Lucas lacked authenticity, that is until a recent
screening of "We Are Marshall," a woefully inadequate, surprisingly
insensitive film about the events that followed the 1970 plane crash
that killed the vast majority of Marshall University's football
team.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not one of these morose, sullen individuals
who believes in taking the gloves off with sensitive material. I'm
not above fun, laughter and the often off-kilter aspects of everyday
life...even after a great tragedy.
Yet, there's something about "We Are Marshall" that just feels
constantly uncomfortable. As coach Jack Lengyel, Matthew McConaughey
sounds like a cockier, more self-assured coach and, dare I say this
in a film based upon a tragedy, smarmy in the way he swoops in,
offers to coach the team and projects the sort of bravado that would
have been quite at home in "Remember the Titans."
It's not at home in "We Are Marshall." In fact, at times, it feels
downright mean-spirited.
The problem, I fear, is not McConaughey at all. The problem is McG,
the director whose primary approach emphasizes style over substance,
image over emotion. Oddly enough it's not just the emotional aspects
of the film that McG mismanages, but the film's various
football-related, action sequences. He applies his music video
approach to the sequences, an approach that leads to multiple quick
edits that only support the idea that "We Are Marshall" has been
turned into a run-of-the-mill football film instead of the human
drama it cried out to be. McConaughey shows, on at least 2-3
occasions, glimpses of a very real poignancy that should have been
allowed the opportunity to shine through his character. It felt as
if McConaughey sensed something deeper that, perhaps, was stifled
under McG's direction.
The rest of the film's cast also falls victim to McG's abrupt, out
of focus direction and, again, in a film based upon a truly dark
moment in collegiate sports we end up with cardboard characters that
barely skim the surface of the inevitable emotions from such an
event.
We have the college president (David Strathairn), the parent who
wants to shut down the football program (Ian McShane), the
cheerleader whose fiancée died in the crash (Kate Mara), an
assistant coach who'd been on a recruiting trip (Matthew Fox) and,
of course, the players (including Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty).
What we don't have is a sense of who these people really are and how
they were impacted by the events that surrounded them...in the place
of this authenticity we are offered uncomfortable (notice how often
I'm using that word here?) dialogue, fake sentimentality and paper
thin characters.
The film's production values are average at best, and the
cinematography and editing fall incredibly short of even this year's
much better and considerably lower budgeted "Facing the Giants."
While more historically accurate than the largely trumped up "Glory
Road," "We Are Marshall" takes the truth it presents and practically
disregards it in favor of a predictable, slick and artificially
sentimental film that favors emotional moments over emotional
resonance.
"We Are Marshall," the emotionally driven and cathartic community
chant portrayed in the film's trailer and vividly recreated in the
film is, in fact, an actual occurrence that speaks to the
significance of Marshall University to the small West Virginia town
in which it resides. The image of this chant continues to play in my
mind even as I write this review.
Despite serving as the title for the film, the real tragedy is that
this chant serves as more of an event in the film rather than its
foundation. By the end of the film, audiences members were heard
leaving the theatre with their own, often off-color versions of what
should have been one of the defining moments of "We Are Marshall."
To say that "We Are Marshall" is a tragedy unto itself would be
massively minimizing the horrific tragedy on which it is
based...suffice it to say that "We Are Marshall" is, even by
Hollywood's questionable standards, one of 2006's greatest cinematic
tragedies.
"We Are Disappointed." |
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© Written by Richard Propes -
Email Me! |
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How We Rated This Film
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TC Candler -
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| Richard Propes
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D+ |
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Jacob Hall
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TC Candler's Comment
n/a
Jacob Hall's
Comment
n/a
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