When the Game Stands Tall (4/10): As clichéd as sport movies go.

“People always ask me what it’s like to never lose. Today I am lost.”

A 151 game winning streak is not something you see everyday, so when they decided to make a film about the De La Salle High School football team who managed to remain undefeated for 12 years I was sold. A lot of credit has to be given to Coach Bob Ladouceur for his accomplishments because he didn’t stay undefeated with the same group of players. The streak went on for over a decade so he had to continue winning with different players and that goes on to prove what a talented guy he is. This is a fantastic story for every sport fan out there, but unfortunately the movie is full of cliches and doesn’t offer anything new to the sports genre. It tries too hard to be inspirational and it includes several fictional characters that were completely unnecessary. This is such an inspiring tale in real life, that there was actually no need to make it more inspirational than what it already was. The relationship between one of the running backs and his father (Alexander Ludwig and Clancy Brown) was placed here exclusively to give it a more melodramatic arch, but it is laughable. Brown plays the over demanding father who wants his kid to break the national record for most touchdowns. The scenes are placed here exclusively in contrast to the coach’s philosophy which has to do more with being a team of brothers who are there for each other. There is no I in team. We’ve seen these clichés in sport films many times in the past, but here the dialogue is even more cheesy and forced. I did find some of the melodramatic moments quite touching, like an eulogy the coach gives midway through the film, but most of the sports scenes felt disconnected with the dramatic ones. The film left me with a sense of wanting to learn more about this real life story, but When the Game Stands Tall doesn’t do a good job of telling it. There are some great sport scenes that kept me engaged for a while, but the film fails in the dramatic department forcing inspirational moments and feeling too preachy. It is a manipulative and by the books uplifting feel good tale.

   

The film at times felt disconnected. You are introduced to this fabulous coach (Jim Caviezel) who is always inspiring his players, but at the same time his situation at home doesn’t seem to be going too well. His wife is played by Laura Dern and I felt like these family moments didn’t work at all in this film because they only touched the surface of their problems. The relationship with his son (Matthew Daddario) wasn’t explored either and everything was sort of left in the limbo when the second half of the film focuses exclusively on the football games and practices. The actors are fine, but the script is weak and ultimately their characters suffer from not having any depth. There is also a subplot involving some of the seniors who are heading to college that’s also kind of ignored after the passing of one of the players. It is a key moment in the film, but it simply felt disconnected with everything else.

My Review: Parker (4/10)

"I don't steal from anyone who can't afford it, and I don't hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it."

The title of the film is based on the main character who is a thief with a set of moral codes which he never breaks. Oddly enough, Parker resembles every other Jason Statham character played on film, more than the character he was based on in Donald E. Westlake's novel "Flashfire." If you aren't familiar with the novel, you might be familiar with the 1999 revenge film, Payback, starring Mel Gibson. Despite not being called Parker in that film, Mel's character is supposed to be the same one played here by Statham. If you've seen both movies you will discover that they are completely different, so fans of Westlake's novels featuring Parker might be disappointed if they expect to experience that action hero, because all they will find is another Statham movie. I don't have a problem with Statham, I think he has great charisma on screen and has made some good films, but his act is wearing out if he doesn't try something new. This is the kind of film that he can make with his eyes closed considering he doesn't have as much fighting scenes as he usually does. The same could be said for director, Taylor Hackford, who has made some really strong films in the past like Ray and The Devil's Advocate, but this one is simply another generic and predictable heist film. John L. McLaughlin adapted the novel and this is also one of his weakest efforts considering he has written strong screenplays before (Black Swan and Hitchcock). This film didn't bring anything new to a genre we've seen played out a million times before in even straight to DVD movies. I could probably come up with a list of dozens of other revenge heist films that stand above this one. Parker was simply too generic and poorly executed with a character playing a thief with a strong moral code (which really never seems believable). 

Parker (Jason Statham) is working on his next heist after his long time partner, and now father-in-law, Hurley (Nick Nolte) recommends him and introduces him to four other thieves for an apparently easy heist: Melander (Michael Chiklis), Carlson (Wendell Pierce), Ross (Clifton Collins Jr.), and August (Micah Hauptman) who has close connections with the mafia in Chicago. After the heist the five thieves easily escape with the money, but instead of splitting the 200,000 they had all agreed on, Melander asks Parker and the rest of the gang to invest it in another heist in which they could all walk out of with a couple million dollars each. When Parker doesn't agree and asks for his share of the money, the rest of the members of the team shoot and leave him for dead. Parker survives and sets out to get back at these men because he believes in his set of ethical codes and they have broken it. It is not just about the money anymore, and he doesn't care how connected these men are with the mafia, he is out to set things right. After learning about their whereabouts in West Palm Beach he takes on a new identity and hires a real estate agent, Leslie Rodgers (Jennifer Lopez), as an excuse to look around and find these men. The only problem is that they know Parker is still alive and have set the mafia after him as well.

Parker is supposed to be an anti-hero, but it really doesn't play out like that in this movie. I couldn't identify with him and never found his set of moral codes really believable. Statham has charisma, but it just didn't play out that well with his character Parker. This felt like just another heist film where the audience is sort of forced to pull for the bad guy simply because he has a good heart. He only kills people when they don't do what they are told, he only steals from rich people, etc. He simply doesn't pull it off here and I couldn't root for his character. The film tries so hard to justify his actions in such a way that it never feels authentic. I also found Jennifer Lopez's role pretty pointless. Her character doesn't bring anything to this story and at times her life feels like a soap opera. Nick Nolte's character is another one that is completely pointless and misused. There were so many pointless things going on in this movie that could've been left out. The longer the film played out the more and more I disliked it. There are no thrills, the love triangle is hardly developed, and not even Statham's classic action scenes save this movie. Parker is simply too formulaic and very forgettable.