Race

Review: I really enjoyed this Jesse Owens biopic, which shows how he won his many Gold medals at the 1936 Olympics, under heavy racial tension from the Germans but I was hoping to see more about the man himself, who was truly an amazing athlete. Jesse Owens is played by Stephan James, who leaves the streets of Cleveland Ohio, and goes Ohio State to pursue his dreams to become a track and field star, with his close friend Dave Albritton (Eli Goree). Meanwhile Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis) is having problems as the coach at Ohio State, because he hasn't had an national win since he has arrived, so his job is on the line and he isn't impressed with the daily candidates, who lead to nothing. After watching Owens train, and being very impressed with his times, he decides to take Owen under his wing and he shows him the ropes of becoming a star. Behind the scenes, Avery Brundage (Jeremy Irons) is fighting to allow Black and Jewish competitors at the Olympics but with the racist political views from Hitler and his assistants, it takes some time for Avery to convince the Germans that it would make a better games if they are allowed to compete. Anyway, once the games eventually get going, Jesse Owens smashes loads of records and wins numerous gold medals for his country. Its a truly great achievement for a black man, in that day and age, and the relationship between Owens and Snyder was quite emotional. I would have liked to have seen some more depth to the characters but apart from that, it's an entertaining movie which portrays a time in sports, which changed the game forever. Enjoyable!

Round-Up: Personally, I think that this movie needed a top director to bring the intense emotion across to the big screen but Jamaican born Stephen Hopkins done a decent job. His previous titles include A Nightmare on Elm Street 5, Predator 2, which wasn't close to the first movie, Judgement Night, Blown Away, The Ghost in the Darkness, Lost In Space, Tube Tales, Under Suspicion, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers and The Reaping in 2007, starring Hilary Swank. He has also worked on numerous TV series like, 24, House of Lies, Californication, Shameless and the Unusuals, so he has quite a decent portfolio to date. With so much information available about Jesse Owens achievements, this movie seemed a bit safe, but with that aside, it's great that he brought this amazing story to light. I would have liked to have seen a top actor play the main role, like Will Smith did with Ali but that's not to say that Stephan James didn't do a good job. Although this film made a decent profit, it would be good to see a BIG budget version of Jesse Owens life, because it's truly an inspiring story that a lot of people can learn from.

Budget: $5million Worldwide Gross: $25million

I recommend this movie to people who are into their biography/history/dramas, starring Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis, Eli Goree, Jeremy Irons, William Hurt, Carice van Houten, David Kross, Shanice Banton, Tim McInnerny and Glynn Turman. 5/10

They say those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I guess this motto is the reason Hollywood continues to make historical figure movies at least once a year. This weekend, the life of track legend Jesse Owens comes to the silver screen in the movie entitled Race. While the Oscars may eat up these kinds of movies, they sometimes get overcredited with being the best movie over the year. So once more I dive into my local theater to review the latest in cinematic productions. Let's get to it then.

When it comes to historical biographies such as Race, you look for a portrayal that elicits pride, passion, and other emotions that will inspire the audience. And once more Hollywood manages to bring all of that to bear with cinematic magic. Race is packed with well edited sequences that show the struggles Owens faced in his day as he trained to become the champion. The racial fervor of the times is brought in full force with extras intensely screaming with furious scowls painting their faces. Captains and financers of the Nazi regime are even more chilling, as they radiated the menacing energy we've come to know from history, adding suspense to the film. The emotion it brings will truly unnerve some people, and I'm sure some group will get offended by the portrayal of some Race in this movie (despite the inspirational theme in this movie).

But the negativity is only one side of the coin, and Race does an even better job with their more lighthearted moments. The training sessions are just the ice breaker to preaching the morals of hard work and determination. Once at the meets, things get turned up a notch with blaring music and beautiful shots raise your emotions to new heights. With each shot of the gun, each stride across the track, I felt roped into Owens world. And the finale… well lets just say the morals they preach would be grand for today's society could stand to learn from. Of course being based on actual events, this suspense can be missing if you know Owens accomplishments already, which is unfortunate in these types of movies.

Yet even the best editor can only do so much and we switch our focus to the actors now. Stephan James gets two thumbs up from this reviewer for his portrayal of Owens. He was able to capture the work ethic of Jesse, delivering powerful lines to motivate the audience, but not to cross the line into cheesiness and overdramatic presentation. In addition he adds a nice comedic edge that balances his character out into a new light. Jason Sudeikis also did his role justice playing Larry Snyder, the coach of our Olympian. Rarely do you see Sudeikis in a serious role, so it was refreshing to see him tackle this part. He has emotional fervor, bringing fire to the screen as he defends his morals and encourages his athletes to give it his all. Sure the screaming rants were a little over done, but all in all it worked for me. However, don't think his comedy has been drained away, Sudeikis still brings his comedic timing to the picnic and reigned his ridiculousness in for this film. These two have great chemistry and together really sold the story.

Yet with all the good I've mentioned, we should probably talk about some of the limitations to this film. The first is of course the predictability of this story. YES I know when it comes to historical biographies you have only so much to work with, but it still slightly takes away from the suspense and mystery. A second limitation was the lack of seeing his relationship with his teammates that could have led to some interesting substories and character building. Yes we did see some of this near the end, and it was probably more important to portray the pressure placed on his shoulders, but still I would have liked to see a little more. As such there were a few moments that could have been left out of the movie to either make the run time shorter or make room for some other plot lines. Outside of that though, it is quite a fun and entertaining film.

Overall, Race does it job to illustrate the past and inspire you to accomplish your dreams. The phenomenal editing and great casting truly preach the morals and lessons that history has to offer us. Yet it is a simplistic movie that lacks a lot of special effects are uniqueness to require a theater visit. As for the accuracy of this film, I can't say as I need to revisit his biography at some point. Historical fanatics are going to enjoy this the most, but those who appreciate good acting should check this one out. My one hope is that this movie doesn't add further fuel to the fire and cause another fight on social media or some other avenue.

My scores for this film are:

Biography/Drama/Sport: 7.5-.8.0 Movie Overall: 7.0

RACE is a "by-the-numbers" bio-pic of Jesse Owens and his 4 Gold Medals won at the 1936 Olympics in the heart of Nazi Germany. A perfectly agreeable - and instantly forgettable - movie that skims the surface, but never really delves into, the events that transpired.

Director Stephen Hopkins has mainly worked in television and it shows as this film was nice, hitting on some controversial topics of race and politics, but never really hitting them too hard. As soon as the movie hits on a topic, it moves on to some sort of "feel good" moment, mostly of Owens winning a race.

While the stakes in the world were high at the time, the stakes in this movie never really seemed high. Partly, I blame the director, but there should also be fault found in the two lead performances of Stephan James (as Jesse) and Jason Sudekis as his coach, Larry Snyder. They both do some good "TV" acting, in that they hit a note of contemplation, or angst or sadness right before they jump to another scene and the previous scenes emotions were completely forgotten.

A case in point was the championships where Owens hurts his back right before competing. There's a confrontation scene between Owens and Snyder where the coach declares "I'm going to scratch you" from this very big race. Owens glares and says "no way" and then competes and sets all types of records and the injury was never spoken of, or referred to, or even was a factor in the race.

All in all a "fine" motion picture, one that I will forget that I saw when I look back at the films that I viewed in 2016.

6 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank (of Marquis

Attention younger generations:

Avery Brundage was an unapologetic and unbending racist Nazi sympathizer. To portray him as this farcical film does, as a hero fighting for Jesse Owens so perverts history that it should be a crime. And, Leni Reifenstal WAS a Nazi and supported Hitler and his actions throughout the war and its buildup without reservation.

The main underlying objective of this movie seems to be that Avery Brundage wasn't the renowned corrupt amoral Nazi sympathizer and racist anti-semite that history knows him to have been. For me, one of the most compelling stories in our history was totally ruined by the complete re-writing of history to vindicate the American racist anti-semitic Brundage, one of the most vile, despicable, destructive forces in the history of sport, not just for America but the world. Brundage was absolutely explicit in his contempt for Owens, Jews, and African-Americans, and never made ANY protests over the treatment of Owens or any other American.

Additionally, Leni Reifenstal supported the Nazis and Hitler without reservation throughout the regime, and if she indeed prevailed to film Owens, it was for the sake of the film, not because she rejected Hitler's racism and anti-semitism.

Why the history lesson and very little about the film? Because films like this which pervert history distort this and future generation's understanding of the times and the people. Everything but the fictional propaganda of a script, full of more lies than Trump and Clinton told all year, and ending with a totally fabricated meeting between Owens and Reifenstal, one last attempt to rescue her reputation and bastardize history.

This is appalling piece of film making. Beautifully told lies are still lies, and this film is one gigantic lie.

'Race' is an overall entertaining movie hampered by some fairly predictable flaws. It features pretty standard sports movie clichés, e.g., hard-ass coach with heart of gold, rival who becomes best friend, etc. The personal (melo)drama seems pretty mundane, and, as to be expected in historical dramas, certain liberties are taken with the facts for dramatic purposes. But there is interesting dramatic tension in the scenes in which the US Olympics commission debates boycotting the '36 games, and in Owens' personal struggle over whether to compete in the face of certain factions of the black community entreating him not to. The actual scenes of competition are presented in an exciting fashion. My favorite scene captures Owens' P.O.V. as he enters Berlin Stadium at the height of pre-War Nazi pageantry, Hindenburg flying overhead, Hitler waving in the stands to a thunderous chorus of "Sieg Heils." It must have been overwhelming. Carice van Houten plays Leni Refienstahl as a sympathetic character, defying Goebbel's orders to tell the true story of the 1936 Olympics, and Stephan James as Owens provides an enjoyable leading performance.