Okay, sports (and film) fans, ready for another true tale of an underdog athlete overcoming the odds? Of course, since that’s a staple of this popular film genre. Ah, but this is of a somewhat “mixed” cinema breed. That’s because most sports flicks concern a player overcoming physical adversity, be it a disease (My All American) or injury (Bleed For This). Ah, but in this fact-based drama, the hardship is a prison record. So that “mix” is the inspirational sports biography and a “take on the system” courtroom drama. That’s’ the football/legal battle at the heart of the tale of the “real” man named Brian Banks.
His story begins at what should be the end of his long struggle. Brian (Aldis Hodge) is called into the police station office of his parole officer Mick (Dorian Missick). Seems that because of a new California law, all sex...
His story begins at what should be the end of his long struggle. Brian (Aldis Hodge) is called into the police station office of his parole officer Mick (Dorian Missick). Seems that because of a new California law, all sex...
- 8/9/2019
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Perhaps the worst thing a film can be, even more so than the binary of good or bad, is forgettable. That is the best way to reflect upon “Brian Banks,” the latest film in the canon of dramas that highlight the criminalization and mass incarceration of black people in the United States.
Director Tom Shadyac (“The Nutty Professor”) flatly tells the true story of the titular football star whose promising career came to a screeching halt when he was wrongfully accused and convicted of raping a young woman in 2002 (when he was 17 years old) and spent six years in prison. Though we see brief flashbacks of Brian in jail feeling defeated and struggling to navigate the system inside, much of the film is spent after his incarceration, as he tries in vain to find work despite having a criminal record while on a strict custody parole and fighting to clear his name.
Director Tom Shadyac (“The Nutty Professor”) flatly tells the true story of the titular football star whose promising career came to a screeching halt when he was wrongfully accused and convicted of raping a young woman in 2002 (when he was 17 years old) and spent six years in prison. Though we see brief flashbacks of Brian in jail feeling defeated and struggling to navigate the system inside, much of the film is spent after his incarceration, as he tries in vain to find work despite having a criminal record while on a strict custody parole and fighting to clear his name.
- 8/6/2019
- by Candice Frederick
- The Wrap
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