"It is offensive. I am offended"

Rating: 2/10 (12 January 2016)

There has been quite a spate of movies recently boasting of being based on events that really took place. Up comes the sentence during the opening credits: 'Based on a true story.' Spotlight, Black Mass, The Big Short, Suffragette...Just when you think the movie is over, writing appears (usually white on a black background) telling the audience what happened to the characters or the next stages in the historical events depicted. Drives me crazy. If it matters so much that there's a need to tell you what happened next, it should be in the movie. If it doesn't matter, there's no need to tell us about it.
Concussion follows this trend. But that's far from the only problem with it. It's a pedestrian piece that doesn't do anything like justice to its fascinating and important story. In spite of the best efforts of Will Smith and the authoritative presence of the ever-welcome Albert Brooks, the result is feeble. The movie attempts standard Hollywood emotional manipulation but it fails even in this, due in the main to poor pacing and inept shaping of the screenplay. Someone, someday, might make a very good movie about the way the NFL concealed vital information about the dangers to its players of head injuries. I certainly hope this flaccid attempt is not going to be the last word on the subject.