He Got Game

Denzel Washington has one of his greatest charcaters in Jake Shuttlesworth in this compelling film by Spike Lee. Jake is a man serving a life sentence for the accidental murder of his wife during a domestic dispute. The dispute centered around Jake's aggressive coaching of his young son Jesus who he is obsessed with turning into a basketball star. As the film opens we learn that Jesus (effectively played by Ray Allen) has indeed become a high school basketball star and is being now aggressively pursued by University teams and commercial agents. In a somewhat fanciful, yet unfortunately believable plot device the Governor promises Jake early release from prison if he can convince his son to go to Big State. Much of this film is amazingly well executed my only regret comes around some of the gender politics of the film (many of the female characters are underdeveloped and/or cartoonishly stereotyped). This is particularly unfortunate because the film has so much to say about the intersections of patriarchy/economic injustice/racism that I wish Spike Lee could have been a little more consistent with his development of the women characters (one notable exception is a brilliantly realized performance by Milla Javovich as a prostitute that rooms next to Jake). This said the film is still an important accomplishment and should be seen.

We could see just one more story about a man who loves his son, but which suffers from various handicaps, like being on parole and being watched all the time, like having no wife anymore due to killing her, and like his son being one of the most stellar basketball players of his time and this man being truck-loaded with the burden of convincing him to go to college. The film marches to the pace of the two leads, Jake Shuttlesworth (Denzel Washington) and Jesus Shuttlesworth (real-life NBA player Ray Allen, which makes a startling debut), as they have continuous face-offs: Jesus won't accept that he has a father, and won't listen to him, being more interested in becoming an NBA star, as the managers, the limelights, the fame and the fortune keep calling him like the chant of the sirens. Jesus is a young boy with a foot on each side. And he is facing options, choices he will have to make, and traps he will have to avoid. As a friend of his says (in the movie's most memorable quote) "How do you spell pussy? H. - I. - V.". This could be one more tale of choosing between college or fame and fortune, ths could be one more tale of a destroyed father-son relationship, but this is Spike Lee, and the treatment is totally different. It starts with an incredible hommage to basketball, shot like a picture poem, to the sounds of Aaron Copland, whose music flows through the whole movie and makes it look more beautiful and poetic. A characteristic Spike Lee movie, which introduces us to a new way of facing sport dramas. To be cherished.

Director Spike Lee's ode to basketball is one of those frustrating experiences that appears to be a possible slam dunk, but ultimately ends up fouling out mainly because of an uneven story and a nearly invisible tone. Denzel Washington is serving a prison sentence for killing his wife in a domestic dispute. While away, his son has grown to become high school basketball stand-out Ray Allen (a real-life NBA player). Governor Ned Beatty promises to shorten Washington's sentence if he can convince Allen to attend Beatty's alma mater. He has one week to accomplish his goal. Naturally Allen is outraged by seeing his father again and creates a shell to keep Washington out of his life. At first this seems like a good thing, but what if all of Allen's so-called friends (coaches, relatives, girls, agents and fans) are the true antagonists here and Washington is the flawed hero? Lee is never sure what he wants to do here. The movie plays out like a chaotic basketball game with lots of action and memorable action, but in the end you do not want either team to win. Washington and Allen's relationship takes up some airtime, but so do others that leave almost as fast as they appear. The corruption in collegiate athletics and within sports agencies is also given an interesting glimpse, but alas those topics are not explored completely. "He Got Game" looked like it would match the brilliance of William Friedkin's "Blue Chips" (a flawed, but important movie), but just does not seem to have the coaching necessary. Washington is impressive and handles the material as well as he can. Allen is a complete revelation. Anfernee Hardaway had stolen the show from Nick Nolte in "Blue Chips" and Allen pretty much does the same thing in this one. Ray Allen seems to have unlimited potential in front of the camera and his gift could be developed more fully after his playing career ends. I have said for years that Ray Allen should be the best player in the NBA, but he has ultimately disappointed me throughout his professional career. Allen is not the problem here though. Lee's sporadic direction and a meandering script end up sending "He Got Game" to the locker room way too soon. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Spike Lee's He Got Game is a beautifully shot and well-executed exploration of the role that the sport of basketball plays in the relationship between a father and his estranged son. At the outset, having not seen very many other Spike Lee movies, I didn't really know what to expect or what to compare this film to. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the overall quality of the plot and the cinematography that composed this film. Furthermore, I really liked the definitive sense of Spike's style that was quite apparent throughout.

Told through flashbacks that reveal the plot throughout the course of the movie, He Got Game is about Jake Shuttlesworth (Denzel Washington) and his basketball-star son, Jesus (Ray Allen). Jake is in jail under mysterious circumstances, yet can get out of jail if he is able to convince Jesus to choose to play basketball at a specific school, namely the state governor's alma mater. Released for a week in order to complete the daunting task, he hounded by probation officers, and does a lot of things that he couldn't do in jail, such as have a light dalliance with Milla Jovovich's slightly-unnecessary prostitute character, Dakota Burns. Denzel, as usual, excellently handles his role as the intense father, and is utterly believable in both his emotion-laden and his violent, angry scenes.

Ray Allen's portrayal of Jesus is also an interesting and well-played usage of the strong dichotomy of masculinity in the sport of basketball. He very clearly shows the purer and more tender side of his character through his love for his younger sister, whom he lives with and takes care of. Yet he is torn between that and the glittering, vice-infested world that his ability at basketball brings him ever closer to. At times he does even succumb to the cloying ploys of others, and there is a particularly raunchy scene as evidence of this. Allen carefully and quietly allows the audience to see the conflicts between sensitivity and machoism that exist in his life, as a result of basketball.

Probably one of the more interesting ways in which this film is set up is through the use of comparative shots that allow the similarities of Jake and Jesus's actions to show. Jesus tries so hard to distance himself from his father, yet the shots and the camera framing show just how alike they both really are. I also particularly enjoyed the use of color and contrasts that appeared throughout. For instance when Jesus and his errant girlfriend LaLa (Rosario Dawson) are talking at the end of the film, both their faces vividly reflect a shade of jealous green from the amusement park lights.

Overall this film is a very good spin on the basketball sports movie, yet with no huge stadiums or big games to win the championship, like what usually constitutes a basketball movie. Instead, the two main characters go through much self-analysis and introspective maturing, something that is quite rare for sports-playing men in film to do. I liked the strong use of color and the well-framed shots, and especially enjoyed Denzel Washington's brooding performance. A classic, must-see movie for anyone interested in cinematography or film.

He got game is an exceptional story about a basketball player who quarrels with family issues and strives towards his dream. Directed by Spike Lee, this movie takes an in depth look at exactly how many variables are involved when being the MVP, and how a man can grow up and assess these circumstances.

Ray Allen plays a character who's name is Jesus Shuttlesworth. At a young age, his father pressed him dramatically to be the best he could be. However by mistake kills Jesus's mother and is sent to prison. The troubled child eventually grows up to become one for the best players in the nation. Now the drama builds up. When the decision to go pro or join a college team is just around the corner, Jesus's father (played by Denzel Washington) is let out of jail to convert his son to a specific school or else the father is returned to jail, it leaves Jesus with a daunting task. The reconcile between the father and son is what eventually allows Jesus to become a real man and face his problems.

The idea that a boy cannot live without his father plays a defined role in this movie. Jesus grows up with the responsibilities of taking care of his sister, who is several years younger than he is. While it appears that Jesus has all of the support in the world, Spike Lee does a terrific job of accentuating how they are really leeches. All the people want are money, fame, and fortune; which is all possible through Jesus. The reason the father plays such a key role is because although he needs Jesus's help, he isn't interested in that. He really loves his son.

Although Spike Lee did some amazing work with this movie especially with the inner city sequences, as well as the use of colors and poetry to his advantage for getting his ideas across to the audience, several scenes were unneeded which seemed overly explicit. Although these are truly issues that can ruin a famous person, they seemed almost too graphic to be seen by a general audience. What Spike does so well is keeping the real connections with the street, and enabling the audience to see exactly what the character is going through by using several techniques.

Colors in the movie such as red, green, and black symbolize power, pain, and respect between different characters. While Jesus hates his name, his father named him that through a basketball player that was how he put it, "the truth." This movie proves that in real life, you can benefit more by forgiving, and not forgetting.

Overall I would recommend this film to anyone who wants to see a unique, intellectual film that will make you think about your present situation, as well as allowing you to know the difficulties that come with fame.