Deserved a More Refined Treatment

Rating: 7/10 (4 March 2010)

Let's just say that I was expecting much more from this film due to its director and significant theme besides Morgan Freeman's nomination. But I feel disappointed mostly due to the lack of originality and distinction in the visual language: boring shoots, slow edition, poor camera movement, not to mention the lame dialogs or conventional sound.
Freeman indeed finds a role that is just perfect for him, but that could have contributed more to the story than merely to cite some quotes of leadership. But he does a lot with the little he was given, something that could not be achieved by Matt Damon in the same scale.
I think that the film rested on the sports scenes for too long -especially at the end- wasting a precious topic that might have been handled from other perspectives, rather than the single development of the game, just like any teen-oriented commercial movie does. The splendor of the regular Eastwood's films is not shown in this piece of work, limiting its relevance to the historical documentarian value delivered in an unpolished frame.