We Are Marshall Is A Fine Film

Rating: 8/10 (25 December 2006)

Seeing We Are Marshall this past weekend in Los Angeles was a film we were anxious to attend, mainly because I am from Huntington, born and raised, attended Marshall for 2 semesters myself and personally knew 3 people who lost their lives in the crash. I was at home watching the tube on that eventful, cold November evening when the news service flashed the story. The film brought back a lot of memories and I learned quite a few things that I wasn't aware of how Marshall, it's coaches and the team's resurrection of the football program.
My review is unbiased and not influenced in any way because I was from the city. First off, I was not actually expecting the film to be as good as I thought it would be. WB and their crew did an excellent job telling the story, working in the city and highlighting the action.
WAM, brought out real emotion, cheers and tears for us and it was very uplifting and exciting to see a brand new college freshman football team have the spirit and heart to move forward and pursue their dream to compete again, rather than just give up and sit on the sidelines.
I could think of no better actors for this part other than Matthew Fox or Matthew McConaughey to play the roles of the coaches. They had the coach persona down pat. Although I am more aware of McConaughey's work than Fox's, I think this role was one of MM best. He had the wit, the charm, the positive direction and inspiration to motivate a new team to go to the top and win, even though the team was basically started from scratch. He was tough but compassionate, wise and street smart, rational but realistic about the expectations of a totally new team who were very inexperienced and contemplating if they had a chance to even win a game.
Reading many reviews from a variety of sources since the film was released, I found most of them encouraging and recommendations to see the production. What amused me however, were the critics less than pleased that this was just another football movie. Well, of course it was a film about college football. That is certainly obvious, what else could it have been? The characters were developed consistently as time and script allowed and seeing the team go through their workouts, venting their frustrations and emotions, was a bit enlightening, for us anyway.
When Marshall played Xavier in their first season, I think that was the real highlight of the movie. It pushed my right-on buttons to the max! There were other things that were great in the film that brought back a variety of memories about Marshall and their place in football history. Of course despite the fact that I have first hand knowledge and some personal experiences realistically related to the film, you don't have to be from the town to see a very uplifting, true and inspiring story.
Go out and see the film for yourselves and tell us what you think. I give it 4.5 stars out of 5