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| Directed by Stephen Hopkins Written by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse |
Alo Party Peoples.
Race feels like a movie that could have been plotted by a machine, that's not a criticism as much as it's an observation. If you've seen one other inspirational sports movie in your life and you have any familiarity with the story of Jesse Owens, then you know what to expect from Race; it has the tone you'd expect, the look you'd expect, all the beats and scenes and big moments you'd expect. It only really exists so that the population of perpetually overworked grade school teachers can have one more movie to pop in the DVD player during Black History Month, but as far as these things go it's near the top end of such fare.
Jesse Owens led a long and interesting life, but Race focuses on the thing he's most famous for, running for the US Olympic Track and Field Team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, winning four gold medals and shattering ideas of white supremacy in the process. Even if you've never heard of Jesse Owens before, just from that you should have an idea of what to expect; racial hardship, uneasy teammates becoming friends and allies, unsure crowds slowly coming over to his side, it doesn't do any of these things badly, it does them quite well, but aside from being the only high profile retelling of Jesse Owen's life story, it doesn't really do much to set itself apart from the glut of inspirational sports movies.
I can't think of any reason that someone needs to run out and see Race unless you're the kind of person that goes to see every inspirational sports movie, and if you are then you've already made up your mind and you don't care what I or anyone else has to say about it. But for everyone else, let's call it a competent achievement and a noble effort that succeeds on it's own terms without any major problems.
Have a nice day,
Greg.B
FINAL RATING: 3/5
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