Lion_Six

I do not like sports movies. Let me repeat that: I DO NOT LIKE sports movies. Still, there are a handful of them I highly recommend and this is one of them. It's a well crafted, touching story with solid, thoroughly believable acting by Herrmann and indeed most of the cast. It captures the flavor of small town schools and sports very well, and almost everyone will understand and sympathize with the characters' personal struggles, particularly the two protagonists as one endures the travails of the young and the other the realization that what he thought he wanted and what really matters aren't necessarily the same.

The cinematography captures the look and feel of a small town in rural America very well and the supporting cast gives a good portrayal of the kind of people you find in such towns and the kinds of kids you find in their schools--reliable, honest, subject to their own strongly held feelings, and absolutely focused on The Big Rival High School and the upcoming contest.

I highly recommend this movie. It's a pity it's so seldom seen on satellite; it's well worth watching.

Frank Herbert consulted on the appearance of the sets and costumes and these are two of the best features of the film. Beyond that, it's a matter of perspective. Viewers who have read Dune first may have a moment's difficulty with some of the adaptations in the film, and overall the Sci-Fi Channel's miniseries was closer to the novel. It's "in the eye of the beholder" whether the characters in this version look more "right" than the characters in the miniseries but, hey, Sean Young with brilliant blue eyes is worth seeing any day! This is a good treatment in its own right, however. See the longer version; like the truncated version of Shogun, the shorter one is choppy and confusing.

Only someone who thinks pro wrestling is "real" would think this is a good movie. Let's see, where to begin? With the Internet TV mogul who has the money and power to spring prisoners from prisons all over the world but whom the FBI cannot identify or find the location of? The utterly unbelievable plot? Or the incredibly (I mean INCREDIBLY) bad acting?

Someone needs to explain to the screenwriters the difference between a clever, unexpected plot twist and, "So, like we'll have a stupid conversation right before the end of the movie to try and clear up two or three of the many inconsistencies we just spent two hours creating." Sheesh.

There's also the little problem of all the actors fighting like, well, they're in a WWE smack-down cage. Oh, well, at least I could understand that, and it did save on the budget; they didn't need to hire any fight choreographers.

It gets two points for a happy ending. That's about it.