A swing and a hit... But not quite a home run...

Rating: 6/10 (13 August 2019)

The Natural is a classic tale of redemption that follows most sporting movie story-lines. However, this example is one that plays out more like an ancient tale of a conquering hero, with feats that are far-fetched and defy the odds. Roy Hobbs, played by none other than Robert Redford, is an aspiring young baseball player. We get to see young Roy growing up on a mid-western farm developing into one of the best young prospects in America. This is where the film has its awkward editorial phase. Tragically, teenage Roy loses his father to what we presume is a heart attack. During the subsequent scenes, we see lightning hit the tree where Roy's father died, from which Roy then cuts out and fabricates a baseball bat. Then we immediately transition to a young adult Roy (enter Redford) speaking with his girlfriend Iris (Glenn Close) about a baseball tryout. This entire sequence of events is covered in rapid succession in what seems like less than 60 seconds. It is awkward, and honestly pulls the film down a bit from its potential. Were it not for this rushed and awkward opening and development, I would've rated the film much higher.
Moving forward, Hobbs' career is derailed when he is nearly murdered by silver bullet from a mysterious "black widow" character played by Barbara Hershey. This sets our hero up for a series of amazing and almost too good to be true feats of baseball lore. The aging Hobbs becomes one of the best in baseball, helping is New York Knights rise from near obscurity to the top of the league. Here, the viewer is immersed in all the sights and sounds that make baseball movies fun; cheering fans and home run after home run. But then we learn after he is hospitalized, that Roy has lingering effects from his gunshot wound, presumably keeping him from playing until now. Our hero returns from his infirmary bed for a pivotal championship game. Struggling to keep himself upright from his injury, Hobbs stands in for one last at-bat, creating one of the most iconic scenes in sports movie history. As with his late baseball career, against all odds, Roy belts a pitch high into the lights and victoriously rounds the bases on his homerun trot. The entire scene is absorbed in explosions and sparks from the lights that absorbed Hobbs heroic blast.
The Natural has all the ups, downs, characters and stories we have come to expect from sporting movies, with great success and failures, trials and tribulations, love interests, old cranky coaches (Wilford Brimley), and even greedy, corrupt owners. Frankly, I feel there may have been a few too many story lines crammed into this particular screenplay. This is probably due in large part to having an all-star cast, and the producers desire to have all of them be integral to the story. Additionally, the editorial approach in the beginning was rough and awkward, almost as if the introductory scenes were initially intended to be segmented flashbacks later in the film. In fact, I personally believe this film would have been better served building Hobbs past through flashbacks. And while the film didn't entirely miss the mark, thanks in large part to the iconic home run scene at the end of the film, it did fall short of being the home run the filmmakers intended to create. And yet, for reasons I can't explain, I still can't help but love this movie!