Race (2016)

The Worst Film Ever

Just perfect...

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Race, a film about the legendary Olympian Jesse Owens, is a story that deserves a good biopic. Owens means more to me for what his achievement meant to politics than as an athlete; "Race" is an obviously perfect title for concisely referring to both. The film itself is competently done in many of its technical aspects, although the way the names of places are paraded on screen when the story switches settings is tacky, at best. James gives a good performance; much of the film's handling of his story is well done.The problem is that the film attempts to include too much. There's not much reason why this needed to go above the two-hour mark. We see a lot of scenes where Owens isn't present, and many of these don't need to be here. He don't need a story about the general history of Nazi Germany; we don't need to see the conflicts between Goebbels and his film director; we don't even need to see as much as what we saw about the debate as to whether the US should boycott the Olympics. Immaterial, and trimming can heighten impact. I was half- expecting we'd get a scene depicting Hitler committing suicide in his bunker. Still, on the whole, Race, as a story about Owens, makes a nice statement.

"Race" is a nice biographical pic about the track and field athlete Jesse Owens. You'll enjoy this film for the drama and suspense that is displayed in it. This film is a well put together piece of work that keeps the memory of Jesse Owens alive with good acting coming from Stephan James, who played Jesse Owens, and Jason Sudeikis, who played Larry Snyder, Jesse Owens' coach. Speaking of Jason Sudeikis, although he did a good job, I had to get use to seeing him playing a serious role with this film. This film was well written too. It illustrated Jesse Owens' life and how society was towards people of color and other minorities and the hard aces they had to endure in those days especially competing against Adolf Hitler and his Aryan race ideology and proving them wrong. This film is definitely worth the watch. It's a film for everyone and everybody no matter who you are. It will keep you entertained and at the same time informed on some history. I definitely recommend it. You won't be disappointed.

Although I enjoy history, I'm not so into it that I can tell you whether there are significant discrepancies between this film and reality. So, I'm going to focus on the film itself. And in regard to that, this film truly impressed me.What was strongest here, in my view, were a number of the performances. First off, Stephan James as Jesse Owens is remarkable. As I began watching I remembered that he had played John Lewis in the film "Selma". He was very good there, and even better here. Let's put it this way...I hope to see more of him in films in the future.I understand that many people questioned Jason Sudeikis playing Owens' coach. I guess I'm too old, but I'm not familiar with Sudeikis, but I think it's a really good and convincing performance. A lot of comedians are also excellent actors. If this is representative, Sudeikis may be in that category.Jeremy Irons, looking old here, is excellent as Avery Brundage of the IOC. I was interested to see David Kross as Carl "Luz" Long, a German athlete who befriended Owens. Kross was superb a few years back in "The Reader". This is a much smaller role, but key to the story. The one mistake in casting was whoever the actor was who played Adolf Hitler. I didn't feel it looked like Hitler at all, and since the actor had no speaking part, it was difficult to judge, but it was the one thing in the film I would really criticize.I'm not much into sports, but occasionally I find a film about sports that I really enjoy. I enjoyed one immensely. I highly recommend it. It seems very realistic in terms of locations (which to a large extent are real) and in terms of racial attitudes of the era...and I mean that as much about the United States as I do about Germany. What our Black citizens had to go through makes me weep.

'RACE': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)A biographical sports drama flick, based on the 1930s track and field star Jesse Owens; who won four gold medals (a record) at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The movie stars Stephan James, as Owens; and it costars Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons, William Hurt and Shanice Banton. It was directed by veteran action filmmaker Stephen Hopkins, and it was written by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse. The film performed moderately well with critics, and at the Box Office. I enjoyed it, to a moderate extent, as well. The film tells the story of Jesse Owens (James); as he first begins college (the first member of his family to do so) at Ohio State. He struggles with racism, and finding work to provide for his family (back home), while becoming a world famous athlete; under the tutelage of his coach, Larry Snyder (Sudeikis). After he's accepted to the Olympic Games, Owens must also decide if he wants to compete (in a Nazi Germany controlled 1936 Berlin). After America also debates this decision.The movie is highlighted by the performances of it's two leads. I'm a huge Jason Sudeikis fan, and I really like seeing him try different things (like this). I think he pulls it off. James is good as well; and the parts of the movie that deal with their characters' friendship (which is a large part of it), are the movie at it's best. The rest of the film feels like it could have been more inspiring though; as it kinds of settles for a lot of overdone clichés instead.Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://youtu.be/YnZSF_6sbsA