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Director - Phil Joanou
Writer -
Jeff Maguire, based on the documentary film
Ddirector
of photography -Jeff Cutter
Editor -
Joel Negron
Music
- Trevor Rabin
Production
designer - Floyd Albee
Producer -
Neal H. Moritz and Lee Stanley
Columbia Pictures. 120 minutes. Rated
PG-13 for violence and swearing.
STARRING:
Dwayne Johnson, the Rock (Sean Porter), Xzibit (Malcolm Moore), Kevin
Dunn (Ted Dexter), Leon Rippy (Paul Higa), Jade Yorker (Willie Weathers)
and Trever O’Brien (Kenny Bates).
I love football. In general, I
also love football movies. Gridiron Gang does not love me back.
I fully expected to use words very
similar to those in reviewing Gridiron Gang, and was pleasantly
surprised to have my low expectations demolished. But even as the movie
was playing, I remained skeptical. It wasn’t until the film’s narrative
climax — the
aftermath of the Mustangs’ devastating season-opening loss
— that I was won over.
Gridiron Gang tells the
more-or-less true story of a noble effort by California juvenile
corrections officers Sean Porter and Malcolm Moore to defeat the cycle
of recidivism by organizing young inmates into a football
team. Frustrated by the knowledge that 75% of the young men they see
will either die or return to prison, Porter and Moore arrange for their
inmate crew to play in a Christian high school league. With barely four
weeks to train a team with minimal past experience, the duo end up not
only fielding a competitive team—they assemble a league champion in
their first season. Real-world gang violence threatens to interrupt the
Mustangs’ run to post-season play while Porter comes to grip with his
own paternal problems as his mother struggles with cancer.
So why were my expectations so
low? The biggest obstacle was the movie’s star, Dwayne “The Rock”
Johnson, the former college football standout cum pro wrestler whose
prior work includes high-profile roles in The Mummy Returns,
The Scorpion King, and Walking Tall. Not exactly a resume to
take to the stage of The Actors’ Studio (even in the current era
of celebrity wanna-bes). The trailers made it clear that Johnson was not
going to be the star of this movie’s action; so what, pray tell, was he
actually going to do?
Well, as it turns out, Johnson
actually acts, if not particularly well. But his performance
competently portrays Porter as something of a hot-headed ass
— a fact that audiences catch on to
just about the time that Porter’s players do. And surprisingly, Johnson
convincingly sells Porter’s change of heart and tactics. Granted, he’s
the beneficiary of a truly heartwarming story, and has the added benefit
of working with an outstanding director (for once). But what really
sells Johnson’s performance as Porter is the sense that Johnson’s heart
is in this project more than anything he’s done in the past.
The same might be said for
director Phil Joanou, the Steven Spielberg protégé once heralded as the
Next Great Thing before dropping off Hollywood’s radar in the wake of
State of Grace. Not since U2: Rattle and Hum has Joanou
seemed to have been working on a project of such passion.
Going into the movie, I had no
idea who was directing, and early on I was annoyed at the preponderance
of hand-held camera work; and yet the way in which the early scenes were
staged — scenes in
which the tragedy of offense and recidivism is graphically and grittily
portrayed —
convinced me that the filmmaker was no MTV hack showing off film-school
technique. When Joanou’s name rolled by during the end credits, it all
made sense.
What Gridiron Gang really
does right is avoid sports-movie and gang-movie clichés. It does not
overemphasize winning and flashy play. It doesn’t glamorize
gangbanging, and death comes not in Peckinpah-esque slo-mo but in
instants of sudden violence. The football games are mercifully and
realistically staged in broad daylight, ending the streak of night-time
cinematic pigskin preposterousness begun by
The Last Boy Scout. What’s best, the
payoff of the movie is the same as the payoff in the real-life story:
the transformation of lives, not the winning of games. Where Glory
Road tried to shill the lie that winning changes everything,
Gridiron Gang reminds us —
and convinces us —
that the real triumph comes off the field. Winners are people
who do leave their best effort on the field, not just those who take
home the trophy. Respect is something you earn, not something you’re
given.
This movie doesn’t make all the
right moves, though. Most of the performances ring slightly hollow,
including Johnson’s. Several subplots almost seem like afterthoughts,
and we never get a sense of how Porter’s downtime intersects with his
work. Aside from ferrying his mom to doctors’ appointments and all-hours
chats with inmates, does Porter do anything else? And what’s with his
history? How do he and Moore know what to do with a football team?
Still, the story, material,
direction, and performances are strong enough to make audiences forget
the movie’s relative weaknesses. When documentary footage of the real
Porter and Mustangs started rolling during the credits at the screening
I attended, audience members heading for the exits returned to their
seats.
I stopped to watch, too. And when
I got home, I consumed the movie’s production notes and found out
exactly why the movie rang so darned true. I won’t ruin that treat for
you here, but I imagine you’ll want to do the same after seeing
Gridiron Gang. Look up the movie’s official website on IMDb when you
get home.
Kudos to Mr. Johnson, Mr. Joanou,
and everyone involved. This is a movie that viewers won’t be able to get
enough of. And I’m with ‘em.
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