Sports movies are a universal known formula in Hollywood. The fever of it even caught the Indian cinema to have made a movie on National game Hockey, called “Chak De”. The greatest disadvantage of handling a sports movie is the probability of predicting the outcome. It is losing or winning. With half the chance, it is easy to predict. “Gridiron Gang” is based upon a true story of Sean Porter (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson) with the members in the Los Angeles County Probation Department Facility to motivate the kids and focus them on football. Before you predict, they play straight with different agenda.
They say that 75% of the kids who go out of the facility end up in jail or get killed. Sean Porter looks at it and does not know what to do. The gang fight is passed on from people to people that it becomes a religion. They do not know the origin of it or what all started it. It is easier to hate and they take the easy way out. Sean thinks football may be the answer. He believes that these anger and rage can be focused properly. And in the process they might realize who they are and how they ended up like this. Sean also gets an experience to realize him.
He convinces the authority to let him try this experiment. He tells them as experiment but deep within he knows it needs to be continued upon. With a friendly subordinate Malcolm (Xzibit), Sean picks the people. He identifies the personality and brings them on to the field. As a counselor he knows they will always have a way to escape. In football he lures them into the area he knows well upon and command upon. As a counselor when some one asks what the goal of kids is, and when he might answer it to be a good man, people can easily dismiss it as a cheesy line. In a game, there is a clear cut definition of what exactly the goal is. Winning. This is the key Sean identifies and tells them that they messed up their life to be a loser to get in out here and this is a chance to prove otherwise. It works. It is not easy but it works. Without their knowledge, they blend in and form a team.
Tons of sports movies have come and gone. One cannot believe how they undertook this project. I am sure any one who read the script first few pages would have dismissed it instantly. Every one is aware of the pitfalls. But when it comes to boosting the morale of the kids who in their very start of their life make mistakes is a subject to be touched upon. Defining them the character they ought to be and the meaning of being recognized for good things is an addictive taste to hang on.
We see Willie Weathers (Jade Yorker) Kelvin Owens (David Thomas) brought down every time by the feeling of being in a gang. We see Kenny Bates (Trever O’Brien) who is longing for his mother’s love. We see Junior (Setu Taase) as a young father to prove something to his kid. Every one has something to prove and to overcome. Things happen not to be for one second becoming a trump card for emotion. Willie and Kelvin do not dance around at the end but begin to understand each other, as humans. Kenny realizes that everything needs to be earned, including love. Junior sees himself as the motivator and a morale support to develop a character more than being a player. Everything is out there but not out of there.
The screenplay is materialized wherein as audience; we tend to not pressurize us about the final showdown. A speech becomes an obvious and they trick us in a nice way. Not in a punching, thumping usual style but in a good plausible manner. They bring the team to us. At that moment, they are a team. As for the performance, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson proves in couple of instances that he is capable of delivering a strong and subtle performance. I loved him playing down with calm and composed manner yet full of emotions overwhelming when the whole team wishes him to see his sick mother.
It is a feel good movie and it is not being misused. As the credits roll, we see footages of the real Sean Porter and the kids. We also see how close the dialogues were taken from the footage. It is a time to appreciate Sean but also the kids. They realized their chance and they fought for it. They shed their anger and also the hatred to know that there is a reason for existence in a harmonious way. More importantly, they realize that they need to earn everything in life hard and honest.
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