Unoriginal but serviceable and fairly uplifting sports drama

Rating: 7/10 (7 November 2005)

STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits
Ex military man Ken Carter (Samuel L Jackson) now owns a sports store but wants to dedicate his spare time to doing something else- being coach to the basketball team of Richmond High School, whose poor discipline and lack of direction has seen them lose nearly every game in the season. The tough-little-gangsta wannabe boys initially show their usual disrespect and un-cooperativeness to the coach, but they soon learn he will not take the cr*p they're used to giving other coaches before him and step into line a little. Despite their initial dislike, Carter comes to do something no other teacher in the system has done before him- respect the boys and actually push them to achieve in a system that "is designed for them to fail", but also to show them that that respect has to be earned and that if they abuse it, they will suffer. So when their academic performance fails to improve, he cancels the basketball games for a while. This incurs the wrath of the boys, their parents, other teachers and the community as a whole, but in time, Carter's decision will come to reward the boys and change their lives in ways they never imagined.
Coach Carter can hardly be described as original- the story has been done quite a few times before (Dangerous Minds, Mr Holland's Opus- right down to the true story part.) But this doesn't stop it from being any less effective as a film for what it is. It succeeds in being engaging, inspirational and uplifting. Perhaps not the greatest film of it's kind ever, but a pleasing effort certainly.
As Carter, the heavily working Jackson assumes a natural command and presence. He is pretty much the driving force of the film, but he couldn't have done it without a solid supporting cast, providing some emotive sub-plots and great depth to the story.
It's certainly been produced by MTV alright, as the soundtrack boasts a heap of current popular tracks that anyone over here familiar with the top 40 tracks will know. And it's a great vehicle to appeal to hip younger cinema-goers. ***