Peter Berg is on His Way

Rating: 9/10 (13 March 2005)

For those viewers who know football, and especially Texas HS Football, I can imagine they will find nits and picks throughout, but for a modest football fan like myself, this movie was both entertaining and educational.
Possible Spoiler: This movie takes us inside the much-storied Texas HS football, and some of the football players of a top West Texas football school during one season in 1988. The reliance of Odessa on football is both breathtaking and sad in its necessity to the local economy, to the point that the coach is operating under a hammer constantly.
Considering the focus on the game, the characters are well-drawn and played. There were a few gaps, but nothing that detracted from the story for me. Derek Luke is a standout, as is, to my delight and surprise, Tim McGraw. But the performances Berg gets from all the young men playing the players is pretty terrific. And Billy Bob Thornton does the coach just right, understated tension throughout, just as you would imagine for this character, and yet his love of the game and the boys still shines through. Never preachy or over the top.
Editing is a bit choppy in spots, and emphasis on some games over others can be confusing, but this was minor to me. Also check out the soundtrack, it matches the story so beautifully and so surprisingly, really setting a perfect mood. The primary artist used was a Texas band called "Explosions in the Sky." (In addition, some of the top rap artists of 1988 appear in the soundtrack.) Peter Berg has been a director to watch, IMO, and this movie shows me he's really on his way.