Not a football movie !

Rating: Null/10 (23 October 2004)

I am not and never have been much of a sports fan. However, this movie has been plugged so much I went to see it.
A couple of years ago, I went to see ANY GIVEN Sunday expecting a football movie. I was surprised to find it a work of art: the struggle of the players on the field shown as a ballet; the use of sound crunching and the use of total silence at other times for contrast.
In NIGHTS there was just smash on smash of bodies with no indication of the fact there are designed plays in football. That is the fault of the director. Thornton did the most he could with a minimum of book.
I had felt the same way about sports when I went to see MIRACLE, a hockey movie with Kurt Russell. That movie did NOT disappoint. I left the theatre with an appreciation of hockey.
I know that part of the NIGHTS was showing the effect of football on the psyche of town and how they felt about their team. In that, the movie succeeded. Too bad they could not have made the game more interesting.