Movie Review: Annapolis
This movie is a liar! From the first preview to the opening scenes in the flick, it's staring you right in the face, and lying through its teeth. I should probably warn you that most of this review is a spoiler, but maybe it'll do you a service and convince you not to see this heap, so here goes.
It promises to be about the creation of officers, their training and selection process. It pledges that it will discuss honour and integrity and what they mean to the modern soldier. You have to admit that such a topical and daring theme is pretty intriguing. Along the way we might learn about something of man-at-arms comraderie. And if all that were fulfilled, I'd grant it its one obligatory love interest, and if done well, I'd forgive its shortcomings.
But I didn't get any of that. Actually, after initial character introductions, we may have been in boarding school for the all relevance it held to war. A strict boarding school, with white uniforms. Add the occasional giggly co-ed, and you're there.
It all comes down to boxing. Boxing! What starts off as an amusing little diversion I'm humouring all of a sudden takes over the whole movie. It's Rocky meets an unfunny version of Police Academy on the Navy's most esteemed training/parade grounds to have a peeing contest. (Unfortuntely one's going for distance, the other's going for volume, so they both lose). The filming of the actual boxing scenes is a poor joke, too. Shaky, blurry camera work in too tight to the action made me wonder whether it was the actor, camera man or director that was taking all those punches on the chin. Uh, guys? For me to engage, I need to be able to see what's going on!
And the relationships? What relationships? Meaningful moments are scattered randomly between characters with no explicable reason, and similarly there's deep provocation that gets no response. (It feels like the director's going "I don't know how this scene should end, so... Cut!") In terms of pure human interaction and character development, this has all the subtlety and finesse of the recent Star Wars prequels. Ditto for the love interest: one can descibe it as neither love nor interesting. (Unusual given the talent and attractiveness of both actors.)
I don't hate Annapolis because it's terrible. On its own, it's simply a typical, tired, formulaic, cheesy, underdog sports movie. No, I hate it because it lies so pretentiously, and because it has squandered the perfect opportunity to do something honourable and worthwhile. And with the tools and chops that is had at its disposal, it really could have. That's the part that sucks the most!
It promises to be about the creation of officers, their training and selection process. It pledges that it will discuss honour and integrity and what they mean to the modern soldier. You have to admit that such a topical and daring theme is pretty intriguing. Along the way we might learn about something of man-at-arms comraderie. And if all that were fulfilled, I'd grant it its one obligatory love interest, and if done well, I'd forgive its shortcomings.
But I didn't get any of that. Actually, after initial character introductions, we may have been in boarding school for the all relevance it held to war. A strict boarding school, with white uniforms. Add the occasional giggly co-ed, and you're there.
It all comes down to boxing. Boxing! What starts off as an amusing little diversion I'm humouring all of a sudden takes over the whole movie. It's Rocky meets an unfunny version of Police Academy on the Navy's most esteemed training/parade grounds to have a peeing contest. (Unfortuntely one's going for distance, the other's going for volume, so they both lose). The filming of the actual boxing scenes is a poor joke, too. Shaky, blurry camera work in too tight to the action made me wonder whether it was the actor, camera man or director that was taking all those punches on the chin. Uh, guys? For me to engage, I need to be able to see what's going on!
And the relationships? What relationships? Meaningful moments are scattered randomly between characters with no explicable reason, and similarly there's deep provocation that gets no response. (It feels like the director's going "I don't know how this scene should end, so... Cut!") In terms of pure human interaction and character development, this has all the subtlety and finesse of the recent Star Wars prequels. Ditto for the love interest: one can descibe it as neither love nor interesting. (Unusual given the talent and attractiveness of both actors.)
I don't hate Annapolis because it's terrible. On its own, it's simply a typical, tired, formulaic, cheesy, underdog sports movie. No, I hate it because it lies so pretentiously, and because it has squandered the perfect opportunity to do something honourable and worthwhile. And with the tools and chops that is had at its disposal, it really could have. That's the part that sucks the most!
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