Remember the Titans: Walt Disney Productions/ Buena Vista Pictures Rating: USA: PG/ Australia: PG
After viewing Boaz Yakin’s dreadful new film, Remember the Titans, I can only come to one conclusion: Denzel Washington must have needed a paycheck. Washington, who’s often cited as one of the greatest African-American actors working today (and one of the greatest actors of today, period) is clearly coasting in this schmaltzy and pandering mess of a film. In fact, if you wanted to describe his performance accurately, you could just say he plays a character who’s three parts Vince Lombardi and one part Malcolm X—and he resorts to using the clichés of each character in his performance. I’ve always said that Washington was robbed when he didn’t get the best actor award for his portrayal of the fiery civil rights activist in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, but starring in forgettable dross like this is no way to ensure your place in cinematic history—at least not in a positive way.
However, in the spirit of fairness, Denzel isn’t the only thing that’s bad in this film…no, everything’s bad—from the direction to the performances, to the script that’s so utterly predictable and contrived that my seven year old could have told me all the major plot twists in the first 15 minutes of the film. In short, this is a bad movie—in every way. Of course, the question does arise: should I have expected anything less when I saw Jerry Bruckheimer’s name on the credits?
Based on a true story, Remember the Titans tells the story of Coach Boone (Washington)—a black football coach who comes to Virginia during integration. The football team at the school already has a coach, Coach Yoast (Will Patton: Gone in 60 Seconds, Armageddon), an intense football tactician who’s had a winning record for 15 straight seasons. But, in a politically motivated move, Boone is picked to replace Yoast—a decision that doesn’t sit well with the play caller or any of his white players. Boone, being a fair man, asks Yoast to stay on and be the defensive coordinator—which he does, reluctantly.
Soon, Boone and Yoast are taking their racially diverse group to training camp. Here, all the racial differences boil to the surface and no one likes anyone else, which is highlighted through the intense dislike between white all-American Gerry Bertrier (Ryan Hurst) and Big Julius (Wood Harris), a black player. However, in that typically glib Hollywood fashion, everyone soon comes together and learns to love one another because they’re a team, dammit, and teammates have to stick up for each other. From there, the typically clichéd football movie plot kicks into high gear, with this disparate group of individuals merging into a team—and kicking butt in the process. They endure the racial firestorm being waged around them, win football games, overcome adversity, and get to the big game—all while teaching their small town how to get along in the process. Awwww…..
If Remember the Titans proves anything, it provides a solid argument against combining one clichéd style of film with another clichéd style of film. Sports movies are perhaps the most predictable cinematic subgenre around. From Knute Rockne: All-American all the way through to The Mighty Ducks, there’s simply nothing new or innovative happening in this kind of film. We all know that the underdogs will somehow set aside their differences and come together and that their new team spirit will be tested by some unexpected development (usually right on the eve of the big game) and that they’ll have to pull together during the big game, when things look bleakest, in order to triumph. Along the way, we’ll hear numerous impassioned speeches about ‘doing it for the team’ and ‘working together’, rousing orations filled with one hoary old cliché after another.
But, Remember the Titans isn’t content to stop there—no, it wants to combine the racial equality story with the sports story. Films about racial equality aren’t as predictable as the typical sports film, but they’re not far behind. We’ve all seen films where the white people are forced to play/work/live with the black people, and at first, it’s not working out. However, soon enough, we all start to see that beneath the skin we’re really not that different…and soon, we’re making impassioned speeches about ‘knowing a man for who he is, not the color of his skin’ and things like that. Next thing you know, there’s a giant barbecue and even the Klan shows up to boogie down to the sweet sounds of The Temptations. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but we’ve all seen these movies, too.
So, Remember the Titans tries to meld both subgenres together in order to create a ‘powerful, meaningful film’—but instead winds up with a movie filled the hoariest clichés imaginable and a lot of boring ‘rah rah’ speeches.
That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, if the film weren’t so preachy. This isn’t dialogue these guys are saying, it’s a public service announcement. Even worse, the film piles on this manipulative schmaltz and tries to pass it off as some sort of social commentary. Yes little Mary, there’d be no more racism in America if we could all just listen to R&B music and play football. I’m willing to cut films a lot of slack, but when they insult the audience like this one does, I have no qualms about picking on their problems.
Director Yakin demonstrates that he might just be the next Dominic Sena (another of Bruckheimer’s ‘auteurs’). This film has no visual style, unless it’s a scene that’s patently designed to manipulate the audience. When one character makes a speech, we’re sure to hear the score swell up at exactly the right moment, just in case any of us didn’t realize that this was a grand pronouncement the character was making. Likewise, when Denzel takes the boys to Gettysburgh so he can make a speech, Yakin pulls out all the stops (including swirling ground fog) to let us know that this scene is important.
However, the rest of the movie is so devoid of style that it could have been helmed by anyone who understood how to frame a shot. There’s nothing to capture your eye in this film. Even worse, he films all the football sequences in that annoying, hyper-edited, ‘you are there’ style of NYPD Blue. There are times when utilizing this style of camerawork is effective—this is not one of them, because the action becomes such a blur that you have no idea which one of the characters you’re looking at before Yakin’s jumped to the next one.
In the end, Remember the Titans is not a good film. In its attempt to tell a meaningful story about racial equality realized through football, it’s resorted to pulling out every old cliché from either style of film. This is not a meaningful film—it’s a preachy movie filled with characters who give politically correct speeches and offers glib and absurd answers for overcoming the differences between races. If you like being preached to, or seeing sports films that are completely predictable (right down to the outcome of the big game), then you might actually enjoy this movie. If you’re looking for a meaningful film or a movie that you haven’t seen a thousand times before, then feel free to skip this one.
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