'Any Given Sunday' - football fans won't miss this one
By Joko EH Anwar
JAKARTA (JP): Oliver Stone has created the most hard-hitting, top-notch film about sports in recent years, with stylish direction and great performances all around in Any Given Sunday. A movie with such versatile qualities, even for those who don't like sports, will take them on a high speed ride.
Sports can be a very interesting subject to put on screen, with issues such as inspiring teamwork, vicious matches in the arena, the greed of club owners and dirty gambling, not to mention hungry sports media, viewed by many as eroding the purity of sports.
Some sports have been transformed into good films as they deserve it. Boxing, for example, has been portrayed in the feel- good Rocky, the gritty Raging Bull and the biographical When We Were Kings. Basketball hustlers can be watched in the smart and funny White Men Can't Jump.
Baseball? There are great films such as John Sayles' Eight Men Out, Field of Dreams and A League Of Their Own.
Even sports agents feature in films, such as Jerry McGuire.
But football, one of the most celebrated sports on the planet, has never been covered quite satisfyingly. Either portrayed only in the background of Jim Carrey's Ace Ventura: Pet Detectives, the Last Boy Scout or kid's comedy Little Giants, America's toughest game has yet to get what it deserves.
Until director Oliver Stone penned a script with John Logan based on a story from Daniel Pyne and Logan, have sports fans, especially football fans, finally had something to tackle.
The prominent director decided to use the same style he used in his previous, underappreciated films Natural Born Killers and U-Turn.
The over-the-top direction, stylish, jittery camerawork and raunchy soundtrack has led some renowned U.S. critics to call the movie a shameless MTV music video rip-off and even a nonsensical TV commercial (despite the fact that cinematographer Salvatore Totino has worked on many music video and TV ads).
But the result is an exhilarating, if not chaotic, in-your- face portrayal of the bloody sport.
The premise about a proud rising sports star and a coach trying to make his team win back the game, however, sounds familiar. But Stone's sure-handed direction makes the difference.
Al Pacino is Tony D'Amato, a veteran football coach, whose team, The Miami Sharks, is struggling to regain its name as the two-time champion in the Associated Football Franchises of America.
The fictions association was used in the film since the National Football League declined to give Stone permission to use its name, thanks to the director's well-known tendency toward the controversial (Remember JFK?).
After three consecutive losses, the young, take-no-prisoners president/owner of the Sharks organization, Christina Pagniacci (played believably by no-nonsense actress Cameron Diaz), is about to make a major contract change.
Just when it seems things can get any worse, Shark's quarterback, Cap Rooney (Dennis Quaid), the man who is supposed to lead the team, and their second-string quarterback are knocked out of the game after a devastating hit.
That is when Willie Beamen (Jamie Foxx), Shark's third-string quarterback, is then called onto the field. After an embarrassing start -- he is caught on camera while throwing up -- he surprises everyone with his unusual strategy and agility and becomes an overnight sensation.
After a number of unexpected wins, thanks to Beamen's selfish and individualistic play, the talented player begins to turn into a hot talent with a handful of commercial contracts and a music video. But his more-than-necessary arrogance makes him lose his team's respect and his college-graduated girlfriend.
Meanwhile, coach D'Amato, who knows there is no "I" in a "team", tries to get Beamen back on the right track.
But the movie does not deal with the Beamen's story alone. Other interesting characters develop nicely, including an Armani- wearing player, Julian, played by rapper LL. Cool J., a weasel orthopedist of the team played by James Fox and doubting quarterback Cap Rooney.
Fine performances from well-known actors also highlight the film, including those of Matthew Modine and veteran Charles Heston, who plays an AFFA executive disgusted by Shark's owner Christina's aggressiveness.
Stone keeps the more than two-and-a-half-hour duration tense and never boring. Everything moves so fast and every second is accounted for, just like in the sport itself.
When the film slows down and ear-throbbing music changes to slower music, including American Indian chanting, the movie is at its most tense.
Stone uses all kinds of unusual camera angles and rapid editing to give the strongest impact to audiences.
The film's ending is also rewarding. It does not end with an ugly fate for that would be pretentious. Instead, the film shows that unselfishness and determination really pay. Stone must believe in this.
One should be forewarned, however, that this film is not for very young viewers. Locker room scenes are full of male nudity which are understandably not cut by the censor. The scenes on the football field are so vicious and include an eyeball being poked out of its socket.
Coach Tony D'Amato's character says in the film: "On any given Sunday, you're gonna win or you're gonna lose. The point is: can you win or lose like a man?"
This film certainly is a winner, baby. Put your helmet on!