GRIDIRON GANG A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2006 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ***
Cue the violins. GRIDIRON GANG, an unabashedly sentimental but endearing true story, turns out to be a real winner. Starting off as a cross between BOYZ N THE HOOD and CHARIOTS OF FIRE, it ends up being more like REMEMBER THE TITANS with lots of football action in the picture's rousing last half. There are plenty of practice sessions, as there were in the disappointing INVINCIBLE, but, GRIDIRON GANG understands that practice is the first course, not the main one. We see long excerpts from the team's two main games -- their disastrous start and their rematch in the playoffs against the same team who skunked them in their initial outing.
The twist in GRIDIRON GANG is that the high school team in question is composed of street-tough gang members from the L.A. ghettos who are currently incarcerated in juvenile prison. Even, Bug (Brandon Smith), the team's pipsqueak water boy who has the world's most innocent smile, earned his sentence by "knifing an old lady for her purse." As Sean Porter (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson), the boys' guard, counselor and coach, explains, the team would have many more murderers in it if more of the kids shot better.
The movie opens with the sobering statistics that seventy-five percent of the juvenile prisoners who are released either return to prison or are killed on the streets. The football program that the real-life Sean started made a dramatic dent on recidivism rates, explaining that most of the kids who joined the team went on to make it in life, without committing more crimes or being murdered.
The movie is full of old-fashioned, overly dramatic movie music. And some of the actions in the film suggest that liberties were probably taken with the truth. Still, the story and the actors all feel completely genuine. During the ending credits, an older documentary is run briefly about the real Sean, and he talks and acts much like The Rock did in his portrayal of him.
After we get to know the kids in the ghetto, where every day presents another chance to be gunned down by a rival gang, we follow them to Sean's tough love care in a California correctional facility for juvenile offenders. An ex-football player in school, Sean sees the game as a possible way to stop the constant fighting and subsequent solitary confinements.
The team comes together way too quickly in practice to be believed at first, but, after just three weeks of practice sessions, their first game demonstrates to them and to us that they are far from ready. The camera stays with them as they get the crap beaten out of them. Of course, the team will get better, and the rematch against the team who initially slaughtered them is satisfying and exhilarating. Director Phil Joanou does a particularly good job of developing each of the players enough that we come to know more than just a few stars. By the end, we are cheering our hearts out for the team to win on the field and in their lives.
GRIDIRON GANG runs 2:00. It is rated PG-13 for "some startling scenes of violence, mature thematic material and language" and would be acceptable for kids around 12 and up.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, September 15, 2006. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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