Unstoppable review (2024)
Unstoppable clearly has all the essential ingredients needed for a feel good, inspirational sports movie. A likable underdog? Check. Seemingly insurmountable odds to overcome? Absolutely. A sage mentor figure offering wise words of advice when they’re most needed? You bet.
So, what actually stops Unstoppable from being a must-see and simply just another sports film? An unfocused, scattered script that seems to arbitrarily skip past important steps in the athlete’s journey to provide more screen time to its A-List talent.
Unstoppable is based on collegiate wrestler Anthony Robles’ path to a national championship in 2011. Small, interesting note — Anthony was born with one leg — making his athletic achievement even more impressive.
Jharrel Jerome (Moonlight) stars as Anthony, who is on the verge of winning a state championship in high school when the film opens. One very cool aspect of Unstoppable is Robles actually appears throughout the film as the “Robles body double” so he’s doing the light stunt work/workouts and wrestling when Jerome’s face isn’t shown.
Anthony’s dream school is Iowa, but he doesn’t get a scholarship offer. He does have one full ride offer on the table, but it would require moving across the country. Another option is trying out as a walk-on at Arizona State University under head coach Shawn Charles (Don Cheadle, Secret Invasion). Coach Charles doesn’t offer much hope to Anthony, beyond a fair opportunity to compete.
Unstoppable is typically at its best when Jerome and Cheadle are interacting. The coach/student dynamic can be a very sturdy foundation for the sports movie genre and that proves true here as well. Director William Goldenberg (whose been the editor on films including Air and Zero Dark Thirty) gives these moments the proper amount of time to breathe and play out. The film just needed more of them.
A major subplot involves Anthony’s mother Judy (Jennifer Lopez, Atlas) and his stepfather Ron (Bobby Cannavale). Ron is an abrasive, verbally abusive louse cursing in front of he and Judy’s children, constantly belittling Anthony and treating her like his maid/servant.
With Ron acting as an extremely poor father figure, Anthony does have plenty of emotional support and advice from his high school coach (an understated and terrific Michael Peña).
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Screenwriters Eric Champnella, Alex Harris and John Hindman spend too much time on the Judy/Ron strife. On one hand it’s easy to understand the temptation to give Cannavale scenes to just chew up. He’s a bullying force on screen, but in too many ways he’s the villain in Unstoppable. For a sports movie, ideally there’s a fellow competitor/team for the hero to overcome. Anthony can’t exactly “beat” Ron, which makes his extended screen time ultimately feel like a luxury that could have waited for the director’s cut.
Keeping Ron within focus of the spotlight also ensures that Lopez is a constant on screen presence. The role gives Lopez an opportunity to flex her dramatic acting chops as Judy deals with Ron coming in and out of the family’s life. This is a component of Anthony’s life, but the script largely avoids spending time on crucial elements to developing Anthony as a more fleshed out character.
There are no scenes touching on Anthony in the classroom, cramming for exams while balancing a student athlete schedule or even pursuing a relationship on campus. Anthony is just a character focused 99% on wrestling and the other 1% on his family. The script suggests Anthony is making a positive impact on his teammates, but there’s little bonding sessions and little moments just to show he’s made any friends.
According to Unstoppable, Anthony’s closest friend is his supervisor (the reliable Mykelti Williamson) at the airport he works to make ends meet. The writers offer some insight how Judy makes money, but it doesn’t seem like it’s nearly enough to provide for a house with five children and a college tuition. A larger part of the frustration is the quick time jumps.
After a pretty startling scene, Goldenberg advances the film a year and zooms through another after repeating an already established subplot. The downside of that is Anthony’s younger siblings impossibly don’t age at all over the course of four years.
Unstoppable is a decent sports drama with an overly long ugly marriage subplot that keeps its more engaging elements pinned down far longer than a one count.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Photo Credit: Amazon
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