Glory Road (2006) - My Review

[irishjayhawk]

Disney’s Glory Road is another example of Disney’s attempt to capitalize on the world of sports. Disney released The Greatest Game Ever Played in 2005, Miracle in 2004 and Remember the Titans in 2000. While Disney sought to capitalize on golf, hockey and football respectively, this time they set sights on basketball. Each of those movies had an obstacle to over come. In ‘Titans’ it was racial segregation, ‘Miracle’ entertained the notion of teamwork and insurmountable odds facing a group of “just college kids,” and ‘Greatest Game’ showed of a child swinging at society’s age limit and financial status placed on golf. Glory Road is no different. This time Disney addresses the issue of dedication with a mix of racial undertones that highlighted the sixties.

Josh Lucas and Derek Luke along with a noticeably different Jon Voight star in the film. While Lucas’ performance was decent, it was underscored by the rest of the cast, including Luke, who didn’t seem to hide the fact that they were acting. It all seemed pretty artificial. Nothing spectacular in this category. Lucas’ problem is that it appeared he was too busy “trying” to convey the good coach, instead of “being” the good coach.

The music, eerily similar to ‘Titans’ at times, was mediocre. That said, it wasn’t annoying nor particularly bad taste in music, it just seemed out of place. The settings looked really good as did the make up effects. If truth be told, the movie excelled in every aspect, aside from the mediocre acting. And yet, I couldn’t help but notice how many times this Road has been traveled.

Traveled may be an understatement. The market is flooded with them. Coach Carter took issue with basketball. Admittedly, that movie was more from a coaching standpoint than a team or player standpoint. Nonetheless, ‘Glory’ debuted less than a year from ‘Carter’, which made it exceptionally hard for me to see why the market called for this movie, at this time. This seems to be another indication of the lack of originality within Hollywood.

Everything within the movie can be attributed to a cliche, overworked issue. Now, I don’t mean to say they can’t keep the story from being told, as this was a very good and entertaining story, but the issues within the plot, whether true or not, were over worked and cliche. Sadly, it was Disney’s fault these things have become cliche and overworked. In the three works mentioned in the opening paragraph, it is clear what they intend to do: milk money from sports fans coming to see an inspirational movie in the respective sport. Whether it’s the initial practice scene, highly reminiscent of a combination of ‘Carter’ and ‘Titans’ practice scenes, to the initial team disobedience, one athlete’s love affair, a question of the players attitudes, the racial tones as seen in numerous scenes within Glory Road and ‘Titans’ or the obvious “down at the half by double digits, coach makes a change and they come back to win” mantra, the cliche elements ruined what would have been a very good sports movie. It goes without saying that these may have been part of the story, and to that I respond: then Disney has not only overworked the sports market but the inspirational and “based on a true story” market. Either way, Disney should take note.

Bottom-line: Worth seeing if you want to see the basketball version of ‘Remember the Titans’ and missed ‘Coach Carter’ otherwise its a rental.
DVD Bottom-line: Unlike, ‘Miracle’ it is not worth owning. Settle for a rental, if that.

2.5 out of 4 stars

OR

2.5 out of 4 cans

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