A mosaic of human flaws and perfection.

Rating: 10/10 (1 November 2004)

This is a film that strives to be "perfect".
This is a mosaic of human vignettes and stories woven into a tale of a team in turn shown as a metaphor for life. OK, well actually, this drama was about a West Texas high school football team in the late 80's but something about it rings so true to so many walks of life you can't help but see deeper meaning in it's messages. It's about a striving, pressure, the lonely nature of responsibility, hardships, overcoming challenges in life, greater goals and the power found in life philosophy put to use.
Top flight acting is abound with the usual quality Thornton provides playing a subdued Coach Gary Gaines with a quite dignity, but the real standouts come in the form of Lucas Black and Derek Luke in their roles respectively as QB and HB. One with stoic fearful dignity and another with flawed talented swagger, you really start to make connection on many different levels with the characters. This film could be a star making role for either of these young men.
Obviously after seeing this movie I would say, the production values are very high with excellent editing, cinematography and writing. You can almost taste the dusty roads and feel the dirty town of Odessa under your fingernails when the film is over. A certain amount of sadness and dignity surrounds the players where pressure above all has drained any kind of enjoyment from the game. The town is the protagonist, drawing the life out of its high school team in a vampiric nature feeding on the Panthers paths to glory. It can be at times depressing. Odessa, is told in the film to be a place to escape or be forever trapped in the browning pages of ancient history, seeking that fall season fix of football dominance. The film keeps a tight storyline by focusing on only a few key players but does have an expansive feel, epic in nature.
The film does not capture the depth of the book, the race issues, the academic logistics and the overall mania of MOJO, however that would be impossible without making this into a television series or at least a much deeper storyline. Not without trying though, it does take its swipes and endeavors to stay close with the source material for most of the film. The film definitely however avoids most sports cliché, but it truly is impossible to have a prolific sports film without a bit of cliché' just due to the repetitive nature of sports in general and the vast number of sports films available. It has been noted that a large amount of artistic license was taken with the Billingsly family, score of the final game, relationships, glossing over the racist nature of the town, the Carter negotiations and game and changing the final play to give it more overall cinematic impact. Hey, I'm fine with that, that's why the opening scene says "BASED on a true story". You have to get people in the door to tell your story. FNL tells a beautiful one. The movie ends with a grace that is oddly satisfying without being Hollywood, something tough to find in a sports film.
This movie succeeds where so many other films like this have failed by giving you a human bond with the characters. While it sounds entirely cliché, this movie had some very deep and inspirational moments not just for football but for life in general, I recommend it to anyone, I would add however you would be better served by the book, but I'm being realistic here! A highly underrated film, this is a piece that could be watched by a family, sports fan but above all anyone that enjoys well crafted film. 10/10