Movie Review: “We Are Marshall”

With this week’s announcement of the Sept. 18, 2007 release date for the DVD of “We Are Marshall” from Warner Home Video, I have decided to post an unedited version of my Folio Weekly review of the movie, which was originally published around the time that the movie debuted in theaters around the country last December 22nd. So, if you’re debating whether or not to rent this one…

We Are Marshall

Over the decades, sports-themed movies have given us a myriad of mediocrity. Whether it’s comedic takes on the genre such as “Major League,” serious dramas like “Remember the Titans,” or inspirational, underdog-makes-it-big films like “Rudy,” sports movies, much like comic book movies, never quite seem to live up to all of the hype surrounding them. It’s not that the climax of these films are not entertaining, it’s just that a movie filled with the musings of athletes at its focus is about as stimulating as watching, well, a post-game press conference with the musings of athletes at its focus.
“We Are Marshall” is comprised of the things you’ve grown to expect from a formulaic sports movie: lots of back-against-the wall struggles and mistake laden practices backed by a ‘jock jam’ of some sort, with plenty of well timed catch phrases and an awe inspiring speech or two thrown in for good measure. Anything more or less and it wouldn’t really be a sports movie. With that disclaimer in mind, “We Are Marshall” is actually an entertaining movie. Filmed by a director who goes only by McG (“Charlie’s Angels” and TV’s “The O.C.”), the movie uses as its premise the true story of the aftermath of the 1970 plane crash that tragically ended the lives of nearly the entire Marshall University “Thundering Herd” football team. It begins by showing the final game of said team, a rough loss that was not taken lightly, before they board that fatal flight. It portrays that team as strictly managed under the tutelage of a disciplinarian of a coach. Intensely angry after the loss, the coach goes ‘Bill Cower’ (ape-shit) on his team in the locker room and unapologetically declares that “winning is everything” and how they “play the game” means absolutely nothing.
The home of the Marshall Thundering Herd, Huntington, West Virginia, is revealed in the movie to be a town that lives and breathes football. Adults obsessively talk 3-4 defenses and Power-I formations over steaks and drinks in various diners around town while uniformed school children sneak off to listen to the game on their transistor radios in between classes (a nice touch that really dates the movie). So it stands to reason that the loss of the team affects more than just those directly related to team members. Rather than trying to depict the horror that must have ensued inside the plane as the team rapidly descended to their demise, director McG tastefully chooses to subtly imply the plane crash with the screen suddenly going pitch black after a jolt to the aircraft before skipping to the fiery carnage.
Capturing the essence of the grief stricken, 1970’s town of Huntington is where McG does his best work. With a slightly grainy haze over the film that gives it a genuine 1970’s feel, McG utilizes songs by Gordon Lightfoot, America, CCR and Cat Stevens to perfection. Giving virtually every character long sideburns may have been a slight overkill, however—it’s the 70’s, we get it. Some of the intimate moments amongst the townspeople may drag, but you can forgive that given the sensitive subject matter of the reality based film and respect that the director didn’t just quickly brush aside the deaths to get to the action, keeping in mind that many family members of those who were killed in the actual plane crash will most likely be watching the film.
After the period of mourning elapses, a guilt stricken player who missed the flight due to injury, backed by a legion of other Marshall students, successfully urges a reluctant University President Dedmon (an eerie name given the circumstances) to patch something together in time to field a team for the 1971 season. After convincing the NCAA to allow them to play freshman, Dedmon, played by David Straithairn, triumphantly sets the wheels in motion in order to get a 1971 Marshall ready for the upcoming collegiate season. One of the following scenes features a trip to Florida State University, where Mike Pniewski as a young(er) coach Bobby Bowden will most likely be viewed as a travesty by hardcore FSU fans.
It is while assembling this born again Marshall program that Dedmon brings in Coach Jack Lengyel, brilliantly played by Matthew McConaughey. While many other actors could have easily turned this good ol’ boy coach with a 9-33 career record into a caricature, McCaughey was born for roles such as this. McConaughey makes it look natural with simple, aw shucks lines like “maybe I can help” in response to President Dedmon asking him why he would want to coach the devastated Marshall program in the first place. The quirky McConaughey could have pulled off this role in his sleep–think a slightly more mature reprise of his loveable character in Dazed and Confused–and his performance in this movie alone is worth the price of admission. McConaughey’s Coach Lengyel quickly gets to work, rebuilding the Marshall football program, recruiting players one by one and preparing the team for a return to competition. Lengyel’s almost lackadaisical, devil may care approach to coaching is in stark contrast to that of the previous coaching regime, and that appears to be just what the program needed during a period when football may have not have been paramount in minds of the students.
The refreshing aspect of We Are Marshall is that it is not about a team overcoming adversity to win a championship before the obligatory hoisting of the coach on their shoulders (this movie predates Gatorade bucket dousing). After all, this Marshall team only won 2 total games in the 1971 season. Rather, “We Are Marshall” is about a town that came together to cope the best way they new how–making a difficult decision to create a “new” Marshall team while making sure they respected the previous one. In the end, football is less important than it was in the beginning. Sure, the climax of the movie is seeing Marshall win for the first time against Xavier University, but this movie is about a melancholy town rising from the ashes to enjoy themselves and their beloved game once again while putting wins and losses in proper perspective, realizing and almost embracing the fact that they would inevitably be an embarrassment on game day—they lost more games in the 70’s than any other college football team. “We Are Marshall” fully captures the idea that, even in a world overly preoccupied with sports, you don’t need a slew of wins and a trophy to root for something and rejoice as a community; making this movie enjoyable for sports nuts and those not-so-nuts about sports.

Concerning Norbit, Ugly Betty, Hannibal, etc.

In America, we like to pride ourselves on being able to look past the fact that our heroes may be ugly and/or fat and realize that they are beautiful beneath the surface. And when I say “beautiful beneath the surface,” I mean after the ugly make-up and fat suit have been removed, of course.

There has been a popular trend in modern cinema over the past decade or so: movies involving “actors” and/or “comedians” dressed in fat/ugly suits.

If the hack cookie cutter directors/producers of these types of movies hadn’t noticed, there are plenty of actual overweight and/or unattractive people in existence in this world who would probably gladly accept those roles in these ridiculous, juvenile movies…and just think of all the precious time and money they’d save in costume and make-up assembly. What I am saying here is that “Ugly Betty” is not really “ugly.” So why don’t they hire an actual ugly girl to plat the part? Oh, right, that might be, you know, original. That even sounds strange to say, doesn’t it? It’s original to hire an ugly person to play…an ugly person.

I’m sorry, If you are over 20 years old and not smoking some seriously good, Willie Nelson-grade shit and you still legitimately think that Martin Lawrence, Gwyneth Paltrow, Martin Short, Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, et al dressed up in a fat and/or ugly suit is even remotely funny, then you are simply a mental midget who should have been weeded out by evolution ages ago…and based on the ratings that these shit bag movies receive, there are a lot of you out there, and that’s just fucking depressing. I mean, a movie like “Norbit” makes “Footloose” look like “Citizen Kane”.

And while I’m on the subject of tired movies: we’ve probably learned enough about Hannibal Lector, haven’t we? Yeah, great job in turning a fascinating, enigmatic Oscar-winning character played well by Anthony Hopkins in “Silence of the Lambs” into just another campy, over-the-top horror movie caricature. Perhaps in the next installment of the “Hannibal” series, Hannibal can appear in people’s nightmares and attack them with a claw-like glove while he spouts out “clever,” Schwarzenegger-esque clichés like “nice to eat you” as he bites into his victim.

RDS3