The story is one that is interesting enough. Sean Porter (played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) works at a juvinile detention center filled with young members of opposing gangs. With everyone killing each other on the streets, the violence is also an issue with the inmates. To give the kids a chance, Porter attempts to unify them by making a football team to play against the local high schools.
Overall, the movie plays out like a very poor man's verision of The Wire mixed with Friday Night Lights. The football games are fun to watch, the gang war scenes come off as just a bit too heavy handed. The movie seems to flutter between how "real" and how "cliche sports movie" it wants to be, and the uneven tone hurts it. The recently reviewed Any Given Sunday is pretty over the top all the way through, and it works to its credit.
The best thing the film has going for it is the lead performance by the Rock. If I can digress for a minute, somewhere in the early to mid 90s, we decided that the Arnold and Stallone types were BAD actors, which I find kind of stupid. There has been a certain something lost in movies since then, and our action stars seem to be more in the Matt Damon/Keanu Reeves/Christian Bale/Hugh Jackman mold (or even the Tobey Maguire mold!). While those guys have all made solid action movies, I genuinely miss the 80s tough guys. Is there any lead action movie stars anymore as bad ass as the leads in First Blood or Predator? In my opinion, no. Hence I really like the Rock, because I feel like he is the only newer guy on the block that can do that kind of thing. Gridiron Gang isn't necessarily the appropriate vehicle, but I like any decent performance by a tough guy. Long story short, just because some one would look ridiculous performing Hamlet doesn't mean he is a bad actor, and I want real action stars back.* Anyways, the Rock is good in this and I want him away from the family movies and back into the action movies.
A football movie starring the Rock and Xzibit didn't seem to be what the public wanted, because I don't think too many people have seen this. If I'm not mistaken, this movie also came out within a month or two of Invincible, which was marketed and packaged a whole lot better. Too bad, because I think Gridiron Gang is the better of the two. Not anything too special, but worth a viewing if you ever get the chance.
Football Movie Marathon Rankings:
1) Any Given Sunday (1999)
2) Brian's Song (1971)
3) Knute Rockne: All American (1940)
4) Varsity Blues (1999)
5) The Longest Yard (1974)
6) Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL? (2009)
7) Gridiron Gang (2006)
8) The Waterboy (1998)
9) The Band That Wouldn't Die (2009)
10) Invincible (2006)
11) The Longest Yard (2005)
12) Two For the Money (2005)
*Arnold, Stallone, and Kurt Russel are the best at this. Not a big Segal or JCVD fan however.
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