Winning isn't everything - a Study of Grief and Team building

Rating: 6/10 (14 December 2006)

I was too young to comprehend the news of the disastrous accident in 1970 but I still recalled it with ease when I 1st heard of this movie. It's an enormous story to attempt, certainly rich in real-life drama. The movie abjectly honors the memory of those lost in this tragedy, and it attempts to make us all feel what it must have been like to endure it for all the families and friends. It has some fine motivational speeches, it oozes with heart. It's your tear jerker. It's uneven though. Some quiet scenes are splendid, the dramatic scenes, not so.
The plot followed the stories of grief thru the eyes of several couples and players. Director McG adores extreme close-up shots of faces and eyes. So the two handsome Matts acting skills were tested. They both did very well. Also fine performances from David Straithairn, as the President of the University, and Anthony Mackie, as a tough corner-back who did not make the flight due to an injury. Ian McShane seemed to have tears in his eyes in every shot. Kate Mara was also lovely and admirable as the fiancÃ© of McShane's lost son.
The music of the film was one part great sixties pop hits and two parts weepy violins and pianos which would serve well as the score for "The Titanic II" . It's lovely music but it was cloyingly used as the barometer of good times and bad times. One sub-plot that doesn't really help is of the forlorn player who felt he cheated death and let his team down with no chance for redemption.
The movie picks up when the two Matts start to recruit and rebuild the team. Overcomeing many obstacles including the NCAA, they get some help from unexpected places.
I'm a football fan so I expected good game action. That doesn't happen. Instead, everything is in super slow motion, again so close up you can't follow any of the natural ebb and flow of the sport. When the football hangs in the air during the hail Mary passes, the band swells, McG cuts to every key face in the story, time and belief are suspended as gravity fails. Some might call that movie magic but I'd advise the director to place more trust in the game of football. Remember the scene when "The Natural's" hyper-dramatic home run sets off the fireworks at the end of that "baseball" movie? These overblown dramatics just weaken the scenes.
The good citizens of West Virginia are the true stars of this movie, the true herd, the real thing, an American team.