Tornare a vincere

Ben Affleck was outstanding, no question there, as was the entire cast for that matter, but many little flaws held this film back from being great.

The annoying zoom-ins and shaky cam has been overdone and outdated - since The Office. There's no excuse this coming from experienced writer and director Gavin O'Connor, of which he and screenwriter Brad Ingelsby also needed to tell the story better.

The 108 min runtime wasn't used efficiently, as too much too fast happened in the last 15 mins, whereas up to that point, everything before that was more fluff than substance, with very slow pacing. I understand this film wasn't about basketball, and more about alcohol addiction, but had there been less fluff, with the message still coming across, and a better resolution that included the other 90% of the cast, this film would've been much better, instead of having lots of guts, and not enough glory. The score was also overbearing. It's a 7/10 from me, most of it for Affleck's performance.

There is no doubt Ben Affleck did a GREAT job... but this is probably the only thing I will remember about the movie. The story completely lacks of originality, neglects the side characters and tends to stereotype and simplify the main character.

The dialog, acting, the characters, production value, etc. of this movie were excellent. It is a very honest representation of a man suffering with grief and alcoholism.

However, it suffers from being a retread of many other similar movies. You can trace the story arc easily and predict what will happen throughout. You also shouldn't go into this movie thinking it is a 'sports' movie, while basketball coaching serves as a vehicle of redemption, you could have written the same movie about someone taking a job teaching a class or working with special needs kids.

Finally, be warned that this is a very 'heavy' movie. There are a few lighter scenes, but >80% of the movie is dramatic and played for an emotional punch.

Worth a watch for Affeck's performance.

Finding The Way Back is an incredible drama that's emotional and powerful, managing to use an extremely familiar narrative effectively. Ben Affleck gives a phenomenal and personal lead performance that's easily one of his best. Al Madrigal and Janina Gavankar are both great and all of the young cast are all really good. Gavin O'Connor's direction is excellent, it's extremely well filmed and well paced. The music by Rob Simonson is fantastic.

Whenever a new basketball movie comes out, I am always curious to see how the game is portrayed and what elements are used to differentiate the film from its predecessors. Upon watching, I discovered that The Way Back is not a purely basketball film but a story of a man stumbling through life and using the sport as a branch to prevent him from hitting the ground.

Ben Affleck puts a on compelling performance of a man battling his demons and despite basketball managing to bring some happiness into his life, he can never trully heal his scars. Considering how difficult it is to get creative with sports movies, through its narrative, this film manages to put its own touch which will make basketball fans enjoy the grit, realism and attitude towards the game. Music deserves a separate mention as it adds impact to the dramatic nature of the film.

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