Points awarded for drama NOT for depth

Rating: 6/10 (28 May 2005)

From the same school of plot development that Dangerous Minds attended, Coach Carter tells the story of the Richmond basketball team who learn that 'student' comes first in 'student athlete'. Cliché philosophy and lines such as "I met you as boys and now you're men" are given pride of place is this film, but for entertainment value and moral fortitude, you can't go far wrong with this effort from the director of Save the Last Dance.
The problem with the film as a media text is that it does not stand up to deconstruction. Behind the camera is a director who has no distinctive style. The action packed basketball scenes spice up this drama but never excel beyond music video quality, which is not an insult. The editing is snappy and mixed with the basketball beat of hip hop, the energy of the matches being truly communicated, but no effort is made to do something new with the camera angles. The way to enjoy this film is not to look beneath the surface, instead just allowing yourself to be carried away by the innocent excitement of simplicity.
Coach Carter was always going to need a strong lead to gain the substance that is has done. The no nonsense and iron willed demeanour that Samuel L. Jackson brings to the role makes him ideal for putting across the image of a man who can hold court in front of these hard life ghetto teens. What Jackson also brings is an amusing aggressive streak that make the audience glad they are not in the gym with this psycho who, despite pounding his players with endless 'submissions', still locks the gym when their grades don't come through.
Carter is a difficult character to understand. He seems ready to refuse entry to hard nut bad boy Timo Cruz (Rick Gonzalez), but caves in when Junior Battle (Nana Gbewonyo) turns up at his shop with his mother and begs forgiveness. As the film progresses however, we learn that Carter is doing everything he can to get his players into college and gain a life worth living, presumably to become what Carter himself has.
The players Carter strives to impact upon succumb easily to Carter's will. Occasional outbursts punctuate what is mostly a submissive relationship between coach and team and director Thomas Carter seems focused on delivering a realistic ensemble rather than the typical teen comedy entourage of weird and outrageous characters. It is a little unnerving being thrown into a gym with an unbreakable coach and a group of muscular teenagers who need to work to get average grades and can't roll off witty one-liners like the teenagers in other films in the genre. This decision to communicate realism is brave, but gives the film an enhanced depth that makes the lesson learned at the end more heart warming and honest. The ending is one of the film's three pointers, going against not only the conventions of the genre, but of Hollywood.
What lacks is subplot development. Timo Cruz's drug running is given screen time between matches but ends abruptly. Cruz shoots from being a hard case to being a shivering wreck on Carter's doorstep, in need of a strong father figure which I suppose we are to assume Cruz does not have. A little background here would not have been amiss. Cruz's doorstep tears also bring to attention the relationship between Carter and his son Damien (Robert Ri'chard), which appears very son-and-sir in nature. There is a hint of tension beneath the surface that we glimpse at when Damien arrives late at practise, and there may also have been an undertone of jealousy when Carter hugs Cruz, but this is not elaborated upon and there is a slight emptiness in their bond.
However, Coach Carter remains entertaining throughout. Realism and drama team-up to hit home hard the lessons that the team learn. Their struggle to overcome the stigma of their stereotypes is captured patiently, yet there is never a dull moment. Samuel L. Jackson brings a mountainous presence to his role that allows the audience to feel the film's extremes of pride and disappointment to a great extent. Involving emotionally and arresting dramatically, but superficial textually (although points awarded for fearlessness in parts of the subject matter).
Rating: 3/5 By Joshua Morrall