A very tense, entertaining and a little pathetic sports-drama with an outstanding soundtrack.

Rating: 7/10 (6 July 2006)

Sports-Dramas always tend to be pathetic. This one's by no means an exception. It is based on affective emotion - as the fascination of sports itself is in real life. But FNL's strength is based on the portrait of the run-down, melancholic provincial town of Odessa, Texas and its football-mad inhabitants. The game is the binding link, the element to bridge the gap between generations (or to cause them, as the story of the player Billingsley and his local-hero-dad tells). The guys play for their town and every scene apart from the field conducts the pressure and the awareness of being vulnerable in a brilliant way. It is also more than a game, for many of the talented high-school-boys play to gain a place in one of the college teams, which may lead a way to wealth and fame - even for the poorest (here: Boobie Miles) Thornton's intense acting and the dynamically filmed play-scenes in combination with the effect-fully used music of "Explosions in the sky" create just enough depth to make this movie an enjoyable, serious sports-drama, that won't leave any emotional person on its seat towards the end. 7/10