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This Walt Disney period sports drama that meshes a compelling sports narrative with
a look at race relations during the civil rights era was a financial success, earning
over 100 million in profits when it was released in September of 2000. Direct Boaz Yakin paints
a dramatic and moving image of 1970's Virginia: when one community is forced to integrate
their white and black football programs, and to the surprise of many: prove to be one of
the best teams to play the game. Two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington is
the stubborn perfectionist who must lead the bickering high schoolers to victory, in a
community where quote, "High school football is a way of life". In a dark period of our
history, dealing with outstanding circumstances, Washington is an uncompromising self-described
dictator who ignores the racist community around him, and pushes his athletes to victory,
in one of the actor's many great performances. Although historical accuracy is sacrificed
for tension, the events here are based on a true story, and represent an overt microcosm
of the white/black turmoil America was experiencing. Although this unoriginal plot does very little
to break an extremely formulaic mold: it hits all of the right beats, and is immensely enjoyable
and rewarding doing so. At 113 minutes, this PG film balances the struggles of equality
with the struggles on the grid-iron perfectly: and Trevor Rabin's swelling theme makes for
some truly effective moments both on and off the field. This instantly recognizable score
is meshed adeptly with iconic rock anthems of the late 60's that truly capture the mood
in many key montages and sequences. The cast of familiar faces, but less familiar names
includes Will Patton, Wood Harris, Ryan Hurst, Donald Faison, Ethan Suplee, Hayden Panettiere,
Kate Bosworth, and a young Ryan Gosling: all of whom blend expertly into their characters.
Antagonist conflict is shoehorned into the story by way of cookie-cutter racists, who
only serve to cheapen an otherwise decent script. Early, the passive aggressive racism
by the white players is only matched by the sarcastic condescension by the blacks, but
as they learn to become friends: a truly magical thing happens, and it's hard not to smile
many times over during this uplifting and inspirational adventure. Resembling a sort
of paint-by-numbers drama at times, a bit of the spoon-fed conflict can feel particularly
heavy-handed at times, and many of the dramatic turns are more than predictable. There are
a number of shallow payoffs late that deliver little gratification, as the story arcs they're
concluding were barely throwaway lines of dialog from an hour earlier. Analogous to
the similar gay-rights discrimination this country is still facing the day, I couldn't
help but be disheartened by this picture's hopeful message of tolerance and understanding.
Here we are, 40-years later, and we still don't have true equal rights in this country.
An excellent family drama that even non-sports fans can enjoy on multiple viewings, "Remember
The Titans, is "Instantly inspiring, with familiar execution". Now that you've heard
my review, let's read some of yours from the YouTube comments.
Here's how we scored, "Remember The Titans"... a NINE and an EIGHT. You loved Denzel's performance,
and praised this picture's inspiring story, emotional delivery, and accessible football
scenes, scoring it an AWESOME. A feel-good adventure that was a bit too "by-the-book
Disney-esque" to score any higher, I still felt this was an entertaining movie with an
important script, I thought it was GREAT.