Based on the true story documentary.
Looks like a rote feel-good flick, and frankly, I’m all in.
IMDb link is to the 2014 original (which confused me as I browsed the cast and crew and saw none of the above!)
I found something about the tone of the trailer really really offputting and I can’t quite put my finger on what.
I’ve known all about this story for awhile and props to American Samoa and all that (they really did move a long way from the 31-0 defeat/the country that scored twice in international matches in a decade). But Rongen has been such an insipid and bad soccer commentator it makes me not care.
The trailer for this has been playing a lot during American Football, it has really made me want to see it. I think it comes out next Friday, even though they’ve been advertising for weeks now.
So I guess I’m the only one who watched this.
My spouse and I were somewhat interested while it was in theaters, but missed it. Then I saw it was on D+ so we watched in last night.
I’d say I enjoyed it, maybe a 3 out of 5 on a rating. But if you took all the Americans out of the film, most importantly Fassbender/Rongen, it would have been a 5/5. Seriously, I wanted to spend all the time with the American Samoans. They were interesting and lovely and generally funny and endearing.
Meanwhile the Americans are shallow and petty and not funny or endearing. Rongen had no real story arc…he is basically the same a-hole he started the movie as.
Maybe that was Taika’s intent, but it lessened then movie for me. That said, Taika, give me a movie about the families living on the island and I’ll be there.
And if you are looking for alot of soccer/football, this is not your film. There isn;t much until the very end, and its all in service of the plot and makes little sense.
Would I recommend it? Yes, as a mellow movie night experience as long as you can get it for free or cheap.
I started watching this as well, but I’m still in early days. Fassbender hasn’t been introduced yet.
This is definitely the most mellow sports movie I’ve ever seen.
You’re introduced to a bunch of players who seem to have no real desire to win, and a hot headed coach who seems to desire that a little too much. So you figure they’ll meet somewhere in the middle, right?
But honestly, no, what happens is that he also realizes that competitiveness and drive and sports things we’re used to from sports movies are not all that important.
I kind of enjoyed that, it made it feel very different from any other sports movie I’ve ever seen.
Edit: Oh btw, right in the middle of watching the movie, it seems to have been removed from Disney+. I have no idea why. Luckily it was still on Hulu, so I was able to finish the movie there after fast forwarding.