El desafío (Annapolis)

After insisting thirty-four times with his congressman, the shipyard welder and amateurish boxer Jake Huard (James Franco) joins the U.S. Naval Academy. Having difficulties in the classes and suffering prejudice in his relationship with his superior Cole (Tyrese Gibson), he has the support of his roommate and his superiors Ali (Jordana Brewster) and Lt. Commander Burton (Donnie Wahlberg). Jake studies hard and trains for an internal box competition, in an unfair environment.

"Annapolis" is one of those movies that the viewer can foresee the whole story. In this one, there is a combination of those "tough lives of rookies with their superiors" in a military facility with a box competition, in a predictable collection of clichés. Further, the film is miscast, with the sweet, mignon and gorgeous Jordana Brewster couching James Franco in box fight. You certainly have already seen at least twenty movies with one of these themes better than this one. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Annapolis"

Going into 'Annapolis, I thought I was going to be put to sleep by 2 hours of Navy promotion and boring clichés that went out of style years ago. I got that, but 'Annapolis' is better than my expectations suggested. That's not to say its a good movie; it's just not terrible.

The reason it is not terrible is a portion of the cast. James Franco manages to overcome his poorly written, formulaic lead with his hard-edged brand of acting. Vicellous Shannon has an effective supporting role as Twins, an overweight black man from Arkansas. His hometown, he explains, is counting on him to survive and pass the year. This is an unexpectedly touching subplot, and I was surprised it worked. Donnie Wahlberg and Chi McBride have good supporting roles, and many of the anonymous students are portrayed convincingly.

Unfortunately, the production is let down by three factors: The script, Tyrese Gibson, and Jordana Brewster. The script is, well, horrific. While its nice to see military students cuss, some of the racist and sexist remarks are extremely out of place. The script is a tireless formula that simply will not go away (and I don't think I need to name said formula). Next offender: Tyrese Gibson. Tyrese is not a bad actor, but the aforementioned terrible script seems to have made him think he needed to imitate R. Lee Ermey. He does this with the subtlety of a jackhammer. Last, but not least, Jordana Brewster. I simply do not believe for one second she is a Navy Midshipman. The romance between her and Franco is laugh-inducing, and completely unrealistic (how many times have I heard military students aren't allowed to fraternize?).

While it's not the disaster I expected, 'Annapolis' still earns my dislike. There's good stuff, but not enough.

Did you like Louis Gossett Jr.'s character in An Officer and a Gentleman? Are you looking for a Demi Moore look-a-like from A Few Good Men? Do you want a protagonist who boxes alongside his military career with a name similar to Prewitt from From Here to Eternity? If you answered three sound yeses, then you want to rent Annapolis, a naval drama about a boxer named Huard who struggles with a tough sergeant and falls for a female officer. It's not nearly as good a movie as the three it borrowed from, but if your goal is to see a modern knock-off or to if you're in the middle of your James-Franco-in-a-uniform movie marathon, you'll be very entertained.

If James Franco weren't the lead in this movie, I would say Vicellous Reon Shannon stole the show. His character is an out-of-shape plebe who can't complete the obstacle course and is repeatedly picked on for his weight. Not only is he given the best lines, but he's the one you care about. He's the only one who sticks by Franco-who struggles instead with the studious portion-because Franco is his "Mississippi". Mississippi is the worst state in the union, so the second-worst state-Arkansas-can always take comfort that it's not in last place. They help each other through mutual studying and training, and if the lead weren't such a dreamboat, Shannon's character could have been the one everyone remembers.

However, since the lead is a dreamboat, I can't imagine anyone going to see this movie for any other reason than to stare at an extremely muscular James Franco for two hours as he tries to recreate Richard Gere's and Montgomery Clift's struggles from prior movies. While Tyrese Gibson and McCaleb Burnett are supposed to be seen as overly tough to the plebes, I found no fault with their characters. Everyone's weaknesses and emotional issues are supposed to be brought to the forefront and exploited, to toughen them up and make them capable of anything under any amount of pressure. Harassment about one man's weight problem or another's nationality is to be expected, because no one can get distracted, defensive, or hurt feelings when they're in a life-or-death situation. Still, there are a couple of "nicer" instructors: Donnie Wahlberg, who helped Franco gain admittance to the academy, and Jordana Brewster, his love interest.

Yes, the movie is a bit predictable and not particularly original, but it's still enjoyable. Once again, it was unfairly criticized and flopped at the box office. There's no reason for movies like this to be badly received; the performances are strong, and the message makes you feel good. Critics seem to be universally too harsh when judging James Franco's movies, so why don't you rent a couple and make up your own mind about them?

DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not be your friend. During the boxing fights, there is a bit of handheld camera usage that will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

Jake Huard (James Franco) is a young man from a poor family who wins admission to the Annapolis Naval Academy, but finds it tougher than he thought when he finds himself facing a superior officer (Tyrese Gibson) in the Navy boxing competition.

The story is very similar to An Officer and a Gentlemen and there really isn't much of a difference between those two films. Still, Annapolis could have been an entertaining popcorn flick. Unfortunately, its dull and very generic. Almost every scene plays like a scene from a better movie. There is no creativity to be found here at all. It's an empty movie and it has very little to offer. The premise may have seemed like a good idea on paper but it sure didn't turn out that way. It's no surprise that it was released in January.

The acting is not very good and it brings the film down quite a bit. James Franco is an okay actor but I don't think he's good enough to be a leading man. He just doesn't have what it takes and this film proves it. Jordana Brewster gives an awful performance as Ali. She's very pretty but she can't act at all. Tyrese Gibson can be a good actor when he wants to be, like in Four Brothers. Here, he gives a bland, unconvincing performance and he seemed to be reading from the cue cards the entire time. The rest of the cast isn't very good but it's these three that should have carried the film.

There are some good things to be found in Annapolis though. The boxing scenes are actually pretty good. Of course, they occur at the end so sitting through the first 80 minutes or so is probably not worth it. There are also a few supporting characters that are interesting like Twins. That's really all the good I can get from this film. The chemistry between Jordana and James just wasn't there. The story wasn't bad just nothing really new. It's a film that's kind of just there. Its not really worth watching but if its on T.V and there's nothing else on then it may not hurt as much as spending $9 in the theater. In the end, Annapolis is a bland, forgettable film that will be just fine on DVD. Rating 5/10

There isn't a scene in this movie where I can't name the better movie that they stole the idea from. Watchable, but very predictable, and your life is no better off at the end.