Great sports movie, great directing!!

Rating: 10/10 (16 November 2012)

Friday Night Lights is one of the best sports movies of all time, not only because of the great acting, but because of the great story line. Director Peter Berg does an excellent job displaying the small town of Odessa as a place where football is the last thing keeping the town alive. A place where being a football coach is one of the most stressful jobs, and where wins are heavily expected from the local community. If you are a sports movie fanatic like I am, then this film is a definite must-see. It is probably one of the best dramas I've seen in years, and it ends leaving you with a new feel of respect for high school football.
Although it may follow along the same plot type as many other sports movies where a team rallies together after facing some kind of adversity (in this case Boobie Miles injury) and goes forth to advance in their season, it holds a much deeper story. A story where football is only a small portion of what is really going on, the town seems to be at a loss for economic success and they need something to root for in order to bring them hope. Friday Night Lights does a good job showing how football is not only a game, but more of a lifestyle in Odessa Texas. While the acting was superb, I thought that director out-did himself here and brought a film to the table that displays the true meaning of football in some places. For instance, the scene where quarterback Mike Winchell (Lucas Black) is out eating with his teammates at a local fast food joint and a man comes up to him asking for him to take a picture with his son brilliantly portrays how much the team is looked up to. This also gives the viewers a chance to get a grasp for how much pressure these young kids were under while playing football in Odessa. Or even the scene where Coach Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton) is out grocery shopping with his family and some locals pull up to him in the parking lot and ask him if they are going to win state this year. Followed by a snide remark declaring for him to "get it done" as a coach. Both of these small scenes implemented by Director Berg give off a sense of harsh reality that the Permian Panther football team must face, that they are the life of their small town, and without them, many people would have nothing to look forward to every Friday night.
Also the fact that this movie is based off of a true story makes it that much more special in my opinion, the director was able to portray Odessa Texas in a new light, one that gave me a new feel for how small towns functioned, and it was almost inspiring to see how much everyone came together to support a single team every Friday Night. And this can be a hard task when having to follow along the true story of what actually happened. After I had watched the movie, I even took the time to up some stuff about the Permian Panthers and what I found closely resembled how the movie displayed it. I watched some old game footage and read up on some of the players, and how they were portrayed online seemed identical to how I saw them in the movie.
This movie is a top-notch sports film, and one of the best out there. If you like small town football and want to know more about what goes on in the lives of many of those small town athletes, then this movie is definitely for you. I've gained a lot more respect for kids who have been able to get out of their small town slump and attend college based off of their football talent just by watching this movie. I now have a better understanding for what they've been through, and from what I can tell, it's not easy doing what a lot of those young kids do every Friday night.