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In a year filled with football movies (like Mark Wahlberg’s Invincible and The Rock’s Gridiron Gang), it hardly seems necessary to release another one before the year is over, don’t you think? But, actually, We Are Marshall isn’t just another movie about football. There may be a lot of football scenes in it—and most of the main characters may be football players—but it’s really a movie about a small West Virginia town that fought its way back from a horrible tragedy.
In the fall of 1970, the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team is traveling home to Huntington, West Virginia after a game when their chartered plane crashes just before landing, killing all 75 players, coaches, and supporters aboard. With all but four of the team’s players gone, the school’s board is about to discontinue the school’s football program—until Nate Ruffin (Anthony Mackie), one of the remaining players (who had stayed behind with a dislocated shoulder on the day of the crash), rallies Marshall’s students in an attempt to keep the team. Marshall’s president, Donald Dedmon (David Strathairn), agrees to try to look for a new coach, but no one’s willing to take on the challenge except Jack Lengyel (Matthew McConaughey), an eccentric coach from Ohio who just wants to help the people of Huntington heal.
We Are Marshall is the story of a town that isn’t quite sure how to move on after undergoing such tragedy. And it’s the story of Coach Lengyel and his fight to put together a new team—to begin Huntington’s healing by bringing Marshall back to the football field.
You know it’s going to be a rough ride when a good percentage of the theater has to start digging around for tissues within the first ten minutes or so of the movie. We Are Marshall is definitely an emotional film—the effects of which is only amplified by the fact that it’s a true story. But it’s beautifully done—a wonderful tribute to those who died and to those who fought to give the town of Huntington a new start. And it’s also, without a doubt, the most powerful football film of the year.
As a film critic, I realize that director McG (who’s known for directing music videos as well as the Charlie’s Angels movies—which, incidentally, couldn’t be much more dissimilar to this movie) used every trick in the book to heighten the film’s emotional effects and build up suspense—like the extreme close-ups and the slow-motion shots. But, as a movie lover, I don’t care—because it works. And that says a lot, coming from someone who couldn’t care less about football. The story of Huntington is a compelling one, and the characters are people that you’ll actually care about. The result is a truly moving film that will have you cheering through your tears—even if you can’t tell the difference between a running back and a linebacker.
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