This is the reason I have an aversion to supposedly
inspirational, based-on-a-true-story films. We Are Marshall
is nothing but an over-romanticized, saccharine, and maudlin
attempt at emotional impact, and succeeds only at being a half-rate
time capsule of the music of 1971. Director McG's failed effort
here is glaring proof that just because something makes an inspirational
and touching human interest story doesn't mean that it will
translate to a two hour film with the same effect.
Based on true events, We Are Marshall
tells the story of a college town's struggle to deal with a
tragic plane crash which killed their whole football team. As
they enter the next season, they are forced to deal with their
grief as replacement head coach Jack Lengyel (Matthew McConaughey)
and new assistant coach Red Dawson (Matthew Fox) build a team
from scratch and take the field once more. We've seen this story
a thousand times, and from better movies. Give me the mediocre
Remember the Titans any day, if it will spare me having to watch
We Are Marshall again. In 2006 alone we saw two football
movies about a team or player overcoming extreme odds to win
on the field and in our hearts (Gridiron Gang and Invincible.)
The film is full of so many sports clichés
that it's not even worth pretending one doesn't know exactly
what's going to happen in the next scene. We see the same character
with different faces throughout, and only have one decent performance,
which is Matthew Fox's troubled survivor. He's the only charismatic
character in the movie. It seems that the writers and possibly
McConaughey tried much too hard to make his character a quirky,
kooky guy, and the effect negates their very intention. We don't
really even meet his character, who I took to be the protagonist
of the film, until nearly forty minutes in.
As I mentioned before, the film succeeds on only
one level, which is in capturing the sound of the era. Since
there was nothing else going for the movie, I found myself more
engaged in waiting for the next montage over a classic rock
tune than I did the story itself. Luckily for me, former music
video director McG came through for me with a new musical segment
every ten minutes or so. Perhaps he should hang up his director's
glass and stick to something he's less awful at. Whether he
continues to make feature films will remain to be seen, but
his most recent effort isn't worth the cost of the tissues he
wants you to cry into. Throughout the film the characters state
that they'll play "until the whistle blows." To my
dismay, the film did the same, and that final whistle can't
come soon enough.
