Almost a year ago, I saw the first half of this movie at a special screening for students at a major university. They were held spellbound by the superb storytelling, the fascinating characters, and the manner in which writer-director Rod Lurie was able to include complex themes about journalism, sports, and the relationship of personal integrity to both. When this movie reached its mid-point, and the lights went up so that a discussion could commence, I could feel the sense of shock among those who had attended that they were not going to see how 'things turned out' and would have to wait a year. My guess? They will all be first in line to see the film this coming Friday when it opens nationally. I know I will be! here's about the highest compliment I can pay the film and its maker: On the one hand, this is very much a contemporary film, once that addresses all the issues that are most important to thinking people, those who still try to live a moral life in what appears to be an amoral world, in a way that touches very deep at what the best movies have always been all about. At the same time, it hones to the rules of classical cinema, the great tradition of narrative storytelling that most of today's movie makers don't appear to understand. In particular, Lurie's approach reminds me of Frank Capra: His work, like Capra's, is always political, whether it's that great indie film THE CONTENDER or the superb COMMANDER IN CHIEF on TV, the show that may well have paved the way in popular culture for Americans to openly embrace a female president some two years from now. More important, though, Lurie doesn't merely make politics the subject of many of his films and TV shows, which in and of itself does not necessarily qualify a film as truly 'political.' In the tradition of Capra, who made IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT as political (if by implication) as MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, Rod Lurie is able to give a political sensibility to a seeming action film like THE LAST CASTLE or a human drama, with sports/journalism background, like THE CHAMP. This is about politics in the broadest and deepest sense - the politics of life itself. The plot seems simple enough: an aspiring journalist (Josh Hartnett) discovers a washed up boxer (Samuel L. Jackson) and decides to do them both a favor by resurrecting the champ and also making a Pulitzer level writer out of himself. But all is not as it seems. I would die before I'd give away the mid-movie twist, but I can tell you this: it's the best since THE CRYING GAME (though this one does NOT entail anyone's sexual identity!!!). This was the point where I had to stop watching. I can't wait to see what happens and will report back just as soon as I've seen the entire movie with a further commentary. IN the meantime, here's proof that the summer blockbusters are (thankfully) receding and that it's time for intelligent people to go back to the movies. If you're one of them (You know who you are!), this is the one to see.
Review of Resurrecting the Champ
