| REMEMBER THE TITANS |
2000 - USA
Director: Boaz Yakin - Reviewed by Linda
We all know that Denzel Washington is so good that he can literally carry a film without barely lifting a finger (Bone Collector, anyone?). Denzel alone is reason enough that Clash of the Titans is watchable (but boy oh boy, they should have gotten a different title... I feel like I've seen that one before!). It is a formulaic football movie... totally by-the-book underdog team gets whipped into shape until... triumph!!! Oh! Wait... I don't want to give anything away. The supposed twist on the ages-old formula is that it is based on a true story, about the first integrated high school football team in early 1970s South Carolina. A white coach, Coach Yoast (Will Patton), is forced out of his rightful coaching job to be replaced by a black "outsider" coach, Coach Boone (Denzel), for the sake of diversity. Along with Coach Boone comes a passel of black football players to the school, where they (and the white boys) learn the meaning of "playing well with others". As with any good sports movie, music plays an important role as a backdrop to the storyline... and the filmmakers were lucky with the ripeness of early 70s tunes. The boys bond by singing Motown in the locker room (in girl-bonding movies, this usually happens in the car or in the kitchen), they kick-butt on the field to the tunes of Creedence Clearwater Revival, and when one unlucky soul suddenly goes all soft-focus on screen, James Taylor's "Fire and Rain" wells up on the soundtrack (can you think of any other song that so obviously spells "doom" for a character?). There is racial tension, but, because this is a Disney movie, it is treated very very carefully. In fact, on reflection, I noticed that there was no swearing at all, and the worst racial slur in the film was one kid who rhymed "Boone" with "Coon" (and got punished for it). This is a surprisingly clean movie to take kids to, and not only that, it's good for you, too! Other than the introduction of the most-annoying, curly-haired child-actress since the Aretha-Franklin-possessed demon of the Pepsi commercials (playing Patton's football-freak daughter), there is really nothing wrong with Remember the Titans. If you like football, you'll probably like it. If you like Denzel, you'll definitely like it (best scene: Denzel repeatedly demanding of a burly white boy, "Who's your daddy? Who's your daddy?"), and if you like clean entertainment with a "message", well, this flick fits the bill. But the film is soooo predictably typical, that, despite being entertaining, it is pretty much forgettable. |
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About
a minute into Remember the Titans, I heard... no, more like felt
the unfortunate "poing!" sensation near my temple that I've
unfortunately grown to recognize. By then, it was already too late: the screw in
my glasses hinge had popped out again, and my left lens had plopped
unceremoniously into my lap. Somehow I caught the tiny screw in the fold of my
shirt, so I was able to flee the theater and do some quick emergency assembly in
the lobby. Five minutes later, I was back in the darkness of the theater, and,
as far as plot, hadn't missed anything despite the fact that I hadn't
seen the (normally crucial) opening scenes. That's the kind of movie Remember
the Titans is.