by John Zenoni
For those people who love sports and films about sports, the recently released “The Way Back” is definitely for you. This is one of the best sports themed films I've seen in a very long time for several reasons. (For those not familiar with this movie, it's about a former high school sports star who ends up stepping in as head coach at his former school where he played due to the current coach having to step down for health reasons.)
First, and I will try to say this without ruining anything about the film, it does not follow that typical down-and-out athlete or coach story who all of a sudden makes a miraculous turnaround and then either makes the greatest save or score or win for the team and all ends happily ever after. No, the story-line in this one definitely strays away from that which was a nice surprise.
Second, it has a plot twist that totally caught me off guard and punched me in the gut. Some people might say that they could see it coming a mile away but perhaps it was the way the film progressed that made me miss it until it happened. The other thing I loved was the scenes of the young men playing basketball. It felt like you were in the game with the players and you could feel the coach’s (portrayed by Ben Affleck) enthusiasm carry over into their games as they proceeded to get better and better.
Finally, the performances are superb, particularly that of Ben Affleck. What an outstanding job he does playing coach Jack Cunningham. He also does an excellent job carrying this film with his performance and he makes you root for him (while being mad at him at the same time)! This performance is one that demands recognition and I hope that he won't be overlooked during awards season as he's so good. Great film!
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