Gridiron Gang
By Mal Simons, Blockbuster.co.uk
“Everybody listen up. The Gridiron is a football field. On the Gridiron, we do it my way, not your way. Your way got you here. Whatever gang you claim, whatever hood you're from, this is your hood now.”
Everyone’s favourite former wrestler Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson flexes his acting muscles for a change in this ‘inspirational’ film based on a real life story.
Let’s be completely honest, this genre of sports movie has been done to death! I mean take the ‘let’s learn football in prison’ theme, we’ve already had
Mean Machine and
The Longest Yard (to name just two); and as for the ‘kids from a rough neighbourhood learning to get along by playing together’ theme, we’ve already had
Remember The Titans,
Coach Carter and
The Mighty Ducks. These coming of age / working together themes are staples of every Hollywood box office season, returning each year without fail.
Don’t get me wrong, all of these films are very watchable… however quite often, the filmmakers are simply painting by numbers… working on the basis that as long as you get all the colours in the right place, and you have a notable star, the film will become a hit.
However with Gridiron Gang, rather than follow this rather familiar formula, director
Phil Joanou (
Final Analysis) has decided to maintain the gritty realism of the original story, the film starts with a drive by shooting and keeps the swearing, language and violence of the street intact. This distinguishes this from the average family underdog sports tale.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson stars as Sean Porter, a dedicated social worker at a juvenile detention centre who is sick and tired of witnessing 75% of the kids in his care without hope and re-offending upon their release. He puts this down to low self esteem and a lack of team spirit… something that he is determined to put right.
To that end, Porter recruits the very worst and most withdrawn offenders to play football (BTW - that’s American football / rugby with helmets); he builds a team to take on other teams from around the state. Leading them into a full season of games and only weeks before their first game, Porter has to get the inmates to disregard their gang rivalries, racial boundaries and mutual loathing to come together and better themselves by playing football.
I have to admit I was very sceptical coming into this film – I put this down as just another of ‘those’ sports movies. The only selling point was that it starred Dwayne The Rock Johnson – a man who shows enormous potential as an actor but has never really been given the opportunity to hit his stride. I’m pleased to say however, that it is in this movie that he comes very close in doing so – putting in an impassioned performance that is enough to win over even the most sceptical of viewers.
Playing a real life person; Johnson is brilliant as portraying his character as a human being first and as a coach second. This avoids him being stuck in the archetypal coach stereotype so associated with this type of film and distinguishes this from other sports movies of its type. It is probably the best performance of Johnson’s short acting career and a massive step forward for him as a character actor.
All in all, a fresh and quite original take on an established formula, director Phil Joanou and Dwayne Johnson have done a terrific job at bringing out all the potential in this movie. While in part, the film follows the standard sports underdog formula, it often breaks away from this in a whole new violent direction which furthers the plot and to keeps the viewer guessing about what will happen at the end. This is unusual for films of this type and does much to make Gridiron Gang, a much more fulfilling experience.
So, even if you’ve had your fill of other recent underdog movies like Rocky Balboa and the other movies mentioned above, this is still worth watching just for Dwayne Johnson’s remarkable performance, add to your list now.