Rise

It's a heart warming true story which is really more about a family than basketball. That said - it picks up steam as you go - but it starts off a little slowly. Nonetheless, very enjoyable - it's a good heartfelt true story!

The Antetokounmpo's story is incredible, but the directing was lackluster, and even worse, Disney exhausted all the goodness out of the story by focusing more on wokeness.

The casting and performances were excellent by all, as was the cinematography and score. The pacing was slow, that the 113 min runtime dragged out. The story needed more content (and excitement), or a shorter runtime.

Overall if you're a sports fan and specifically an NBA and/or Giannis fan, this is a good one-time watch. As an exciting drama though, Hustle blows this one out of the water.

This movie was great I loved hearing the story of the Antetkounmpo family. This story was amazing and so inspiring. I love this movie do much and recommend it to all.

American Underdog was good, but let's face it. There wasn't much faith in that movie. Rise actually shows more prayer and openness about faith in God. The family is exactly the kind you want to emulate, and the morals and values are exactly what you want your kids to learn. This is a beautiful film made with Nigerian actors and directed by a Nigerian Filmmaker. It is a great cross between independent films, and Disney's inspirational sports films. It's wholesome, enjoyable, and uplifting.

The movie about the road of Giannis Antetokounpo to the NBA is not a very good one and you have the director and writer of the picture to blame. Giannis was born in Greece, he also went to school here and he is a native speaker.his accent is 100% greek. He has never been to Nigeria. He is aptly named the "greek freak" as we all know. Hiring a director from Nigeria who i m guessing has never been here other than to shoot the movie, riddles the film with prejudice and personal bias against the greek people.also, the writer is incapable of escaping black and white stereotypical characterizations probably because he only knows the usa version of things.they even go as far as to insult the country's history (saying that the greeks derive from africa and shango and zeus are the same.what???) and disregard humanitarian efforts from many official and unofficial channels here . It was because of Giannis' father great esteem for the greek educational system and culture that they stayed here and got greek names.they could have gone to other countries but they didn't. None of the facts that Giannis went to school here and that he had people helping him and his family to survive are mentioned or presented in any way.he did not just drop here , he had interactions which formed his personality.where are those? There are pictures and videos of this and giannis himself is grateful to Greece and the people here he calls friends. I love Giannis and he has always been an advocate of our country and is on the national team. But the film is lensed by a Nigerian who presents greeks as boogeymen for adhering to the law and has completely missed the beat of the country Giannis lived in and comes back to every summer.the most egregious scene is the racial slur in a game against Giannis. Giannis has many friends from those days and he is loyal to them as he is to the city of milwaukee.loyalty from giannis, probably one of his best qualities as a person, does not come through in this film.as far as the citizenship theme of the movie goes, one would expect at least a mention even at the end credits that the president of the greek democracy hosted the antetokoumpos and gave them passports etc (there is evidence of that online of course). If for nothing else to provide some closure. Instead of making it about how Giannis' case increased the efforts made on how to solve this problem in a legislative state in Europe, they stick to the "bad greek authorities" tirade. It would be so much better to treat Giannis' journey as a means to show how change has come about with regards to children citizenship when being born in an eu country. The story wobbles along without any real drama and lacks a scope and perspective that would transcend the actual facts to a lesson in human strength and tenacity. That is the missed opportunity really. I also find it unbelievable that the conditions they were living in were those presented.they were way worse. I get the fact that its a disney movie supported by nike (could you be more blatant Nike?) but they did a disservice to the true story and person Giannis and Thanasis really are. At the hands of a better writer and director this could have been better but it is not.