“We Are Marshall” (Warner Brothers)
We Aren’t ‘Invincible’
There are a lot of pitfalls in bringing a true life story to the screen, especially one that centers around a tragic incident. You have to get just the right mix of tragedy and hope, and your emotional quotient can’t be too high or too low. The new film “We Are Marshall” just can’t seem to get the balance right. It is a movie without the right emotional core and that makes it less than it ought to be. The recent Mark Wahlberg starrer “Invincible” is the perfect movie as far as that balance goes.
“We Are Marshall” focuses on the school of Marshall University. In 1970 there was a horrible plane crash that wiped out most of the football team along with fans and supporters, as well as sports writers covering the team. After this occurrence the town of Huntington, West Virginia was devastated. They didn’t think they wanted another football team, but the president of the college, Donald Dedmon (David Strathairn) thought differently. Urged on my surviving football player Nate Ruffin (Anthony Mackie) he began to look for a coach.
His choice was Jack Lengyel (Matthew McConaughey), Lengyel accepted the position and then talked assistant coach Red Dawson (Matthew Fox) into sticking with the team. Dawson had been offered the head coaching position but thought he was through with coaching. Lengyel made him see it all differently.
The movie is all about overcoming the tragedy and bringing the college and the community back to life. It is an emotional journey and should have been a film that touched audiences everywhere – but it doesn’t. Somehow McConaughey never makes Lengyel heroic in any sense and Fox doesn’t capture the heart of Dawson. The story is fine but the emotional core is missing.
The movie is rated PG for profanity.
Movies like “Remember the Titans” and “Invincible” have managed to tell their stories and still tap the emotional core without being maudlin or sappy. “We Are Marshall” doesn’t wander into that territory. The story keeps the audience strangely detached and a spectator rather than a participant.
McConaughey and Fox are both good actors and they receive a big boost from David Strathairn’s performance. Still that special spark, that special element is missing. “We Are Marshall” tells its story but never reveals its heart.
I scored “We Are Marshall” a tragic 5 out of 10.
