Crooked Arrows

"Crooked Arrows" is one of those movies that even if you know almost nothing about the sport of Lacrosse you get involved in the game so much so that you might just find yourself yelling at the screen and that is part of "The Formula" that works so very well for movies about sports.

BUT

If you start watching this movie thinking that "The Formula" is all there is to it, get prepared for a BIG Wake-up call.

This movie has managed to twist Native culture, Traditions, History and even Language all together so expertly that you are not only being entertained but being educated at the same time.

Saying that this movie is an emotional roller coaster would be akin to saying that Tecumseh was a great warrior. Both are major understatements.

I'm not going to give anything away here because I really believe that potential viewers should just watch and ENJOY this movie from start to finish without knowing more than what is in the synopsis.

Probably the biggest compliment I can pay the movie is by saying, "I'm Dave Furlotte and I'm a Crooked Arrow."

This movie was better than I thought, but its not the best movie about (modern day) Native Americans. Most of the good films are low budget so they are seen by a small audience. This was more mainstream than the others. However it only had a 6 million dollar budget, so that's why the box office didn't go well. They worked well with the budget though.

I didn't hate this movie but its not in my top 20 or anything. I wanted to keep watching but I also wanted more to happen. A few lose ends and missed potential. I also don't see why two white actors (Chelsea Ricketts and Brandon Routh) were playing Native Americans. They had a bunch of other real Native Americans in the film. I wasn't steaming mad but it did bother me. At least some people were really Native American. Everyone acted well.

Its not a movie I would watch with friends but I do suggest watching it. Also I like that Lacrosse was in a movie.

The potential was there, ruined by weak dialog formulas, poor character development using 80's cheesy hero meets heroine hard to get rot as something that adds cultural depth, really? Then it turns into a lacrosse movie with script and scenes clearly someone lacking sports background of any kind, felt like one of those terrible after school specials of 1980's.

If you can survive the terrible direction, script & dialog, some good touchstones of Native American Indian Tribal Peoples are within, but felt belittled by unfocused script, unforced errors, and poor acting/direction by the 2 primary love interest characters especially (never saw either before nor since, so must not have been just me).

Of all people politically of Our Founding Fathers and early days referenced, choosing Ben Franklin to make 'the Bogey Man' of whites shows intent with the producers and/or director... Ben Franklin wanted to coexist with Native American Indian Tribal Peoples, not be at war at all... in part, his desire to make the turkey a focal point in colonial communities was to domestically cultivate turkey like chickens to take focus off killing bison, which involved violating Native American Indian Tribal Land Boundaries...Turkey cultivation would alleviate the pressure on white men hunting illegally on tribal lands, helping to keep the peace.

So omitting such fools as Custer and Andrew Jackson as easy and actual Bogey Men may seem 'edgy' to pick on Ben Franklin, but it revealed the hand of influence on script and final product had a propaganda agenda more than making a quality movie as their priority.

Sadly the fact throughout, painting Native American Indian Tribal Peoples as emotionally and intellectually stunted, prone to war and poorly educated subliminally in half the scenes (80's movies especially did that narrating white suburban teens and young adults, hyping cultural identity clashes, but a 2012 movie should know better than to paint a tribal communities as a monolith of immature malcontents and poorly informed as a whole, needing a half white metrosexual oiled male model to save their village?

I'm white, and that's a subliminal formula that whites are the saviors... Gandhi, Tutu, Mandela, Confucius, Douglas, MLK...long list of non-white amazing noble & benevolent humans that stood up to England's Royal Family, The Last of the Roman Empire...who Our Founding Fathers only defeated BECAUSE OF Ben Franklin.

It was England's failed policies regarding Native American Indian Tribal peoples in the first place that caused the problems, seeing the indigenous peoples as "non-human" without Magna Carta rights, so no, if Ben Franklin remained loyal to Royal Family, we were going to be a UK colony to this day (do your research; I'm not joking...WW Brand, The First American, explains quite well), in which case, our current caste system of implied race privilege would be fully anchored by CAUCASIAN Royal Family mandates, placing tribal communities as 'primates' per their terms, meaning NO LAND RIGHTS AT ALL, NO TREATIES.

So this Ben Franklin slip is reflective of that Rupert Murdoch Mossad subliminal messaging to keep America stumbling.

And it shows throughout, plodding through scenes of fabricated controversies that belittle the real controversies.

The reviews going more than 7 (if you're Native American Indian AND love lacrosse, your personal connection might cause momentary lapse of reason to be generous, but even with such deep connection, no way a sane human goes 8+ on this trainwreck, and a 10?! There are a few '10' movies, perhaps 200 tops '10' ranked flicks ever made. They are the litmus.

This movie is well below half of a '10' score, and I'm being generous for mostly just recognition of Native American Indian Tribal Peoples.

I'm just not so sure bad movies about important topics help, so 4 feels generous to be honest.

It's like if you run a real business in the real world, then go home watching American Apprentice TV show... Dump's Tv show had very little resemblance to reality how business works.. being further evidence they knew nothing about the subject matter (the premise of looking for 'who to fire!' until you're down to just one means your company is by design happy about high turnover so a megalomaniac narcissist can fire employees would result in a company resembling the magaclown show we just witnessed still hanging around like a bad wart that won't go away.).

Just too many mistakes by choice on script and dialogue to go higher for me.

"Restore pride to our people, and their game. That is your first obligation." A Native American prep school lacrosse team is starting another season. Another very long season. When a change is made in order to restore pride in the people Joe Logan (Routh) is assigned as the new coach. A former All-American player himself (although he hasn't played at all since missing the big shot) the school thinks they have the answer. First of all I will say that this is a good and entertaining movie. That said it took me a little more then halfway through before I realized why I was experiencing Deja-vu. The coach of the down-on-its-luck-rag-tag team used to be the star for the best team in the state. He missed the final shot of the season and is shunned. He starts off coaching for personal gain but begins to grow with the team and teaches them what being a team means. I could keep going on about it but what I'm getting at here is that this movie is almost a shot for shot remake of "Mighty Ducks". This one deals with the history of lacrosse in the Native American culture and that part is interesting and the movie is entertaining but don't expect anything original. Overall, a fun movie to watch as a family. I give it a B-.

To the guy who say's it a remake? C'mon... think of all the differences.

• Gordon misses the big shot for real... but Joe misses on purpose - Gordon gives up hockey and becomes a lawyer... Joe gives up LaCrosse and becomes a Casino Manager - Gordon is doing community service... Joe is just pressured into it. - Gordon shows up for the first couple of practices in a suit, talking on his "car phone"... Joe shows up in a suit and talks on his cell phone. - Gordon gets inspiration to turn it around from old hockey store dude.. Joe gets inspiration from old Indian dude. - Gordon gets his boss to sponsor and gets new equipment... Joe buys the new equipment himself. - The Ducks change their name and logo because of sponsorship... the crooked arrows change theirs because they want to. - Gordon recruits the big scary kid from the alley... Joe recruits his from the forest. - Gordon recruits his best player from another team... Joe just has to convince his best player to play. - Gordon takes his kids to a North Star practice for motivation... Joe takes his on a vision quest. - The duck kids fly through the skyway on roller blades... crooked arrow dudes fly through the forest and there is no roller blades involved. - Gordon's love interest with the players mom is new... Joe already had dated the players mom he falls for. - Gordon's falling out with the team involves players leaving... Joe's falling out involves him leaving. - Gordon quits his job for the sake of the team... Joe just screws over a developer. - Gordon's former team they faces in the championship still has his old coach... Joes former team they face in the championship game does not. - Gordon's former team are called "cake-eaters" by his team because they are rich kids... Joe's former team are not called "cake-eaters" even though they are also rich kids. - Gordon's best player gets hurt due to cheap shot in the big game and doesn't come back... Joe's best player gets hurt due to cheap shot and comes back for the final 20 seconds. - Gordon's captain that makes the big shot against his former team that he missed is the son of his love interest... Joe's captain that makes the big shot against his former team that he missed... is "not" the son of his love interest.

The differences are staggering... why one would even see similarity is beyond me.