I should have seen this film a week ago but a strange phenomenon happened… it snowed. I mean actual snow. Not like inches but enough that it set & there was ice & it stayed around for 3 days on rooves & cars. I trust myself to drive in the snow & ice but not other people & with the main road closed, i didnt trust other drivers so i didnt go to the advanced preview. Which was a good thing as when i woke up the next morning i saw there had been a crash between portslade & hove due to ice at about 10:30… glad i missed that.
Any how i digress (TANGENT!) so here i am the following tuesday ready to watch this film. If anything im looking forward to the Clooney directing, its always very good. Lets see if this invigorates me.

Trailers… some weird film called Drive Away Dolls (ahhhhhhh still freak out a little at that), the color purple, the iron claw & oooh what was the other one damn it… the holdovers, yea that was it. All awards season. I think there was actually 5 i cant remembers.

I actually took my seat as the trailers started, & didnt have a proper look around at who was there age wise. Id say no more than 30 people in my screening though.

& then the film started… & it didnt matter that i knew the outcome of the film, i was gripped (& for once in a cinema club review SPOILERS as it happened in real life).

So when we get to that final race, unless you live under a rock, you know what goes down. As brit who knows her Olympics (especially rowing) i knew the outcome, so was like okay lets see how they do this. The way it was edited, with the noise & the drama & the passion & the water & the ores & the score & the guys & the tight finish & then the pause at points, i was sitting on the edge of my seat at the screening going fucking come on lads you can do this go go go. Yes i was cheering for bloody Americans. Obviously i wasnt shouting this out but if id been watching in on netflix at home i would have been. It made me care so much about those boys & the outcome of that race. IT just built & built & that is good editing, good music & good directing that i actually felt i was in the boat trying to row with them. Thats how you make a good finale to your real life story movie. So passionate. Yea thats why you see this film, for those 8 minutes.

Now if your not new here you know how i feel about uperty people & how they need to get put in their place. If you are new, then hi… uperty people in movies (& life in general) piss me off. So this film being at posh university always has uperty people, but there was even more uperty people than them. So i was feeling sorry for lesser uperty people. I know crazy. I mean yes the guy who was the lead character lived in a car & had paper in his shoes, but he was still studying engineering at a decent university in the 1930s. YEs the boat got him his job & a purpose, but still. He was still uperty. & yes people looked down at him always but even the posh boys in that boat with trust funds were looked down on because they werent from Harvard. IT was a weird situation.

I wasnt expecting the Jessy Owens cameo i didnt expect, but i was then like of course he would be in this. Its that olympics, he has to be there, so im glad he was & his message was very important & is a message we still need to hear today.

Joel Edgerton was good, as always (hes very quickly moving into top tier of my acting list). He was ruthless throughout but ended up showing he had a heart & was proud of them. His pep talks were different but good & the old guy building the boat too, he was so good & yes it was a guilt sob story trip for them but it had to happen to make you actually want them to do well & win their races & inspire them to find a purpose. All here for movies with morals & life lessons.

A couple of the characters had issues with each other or a few things addressed in the film, that i was certain would effect people later on & prove one thing or stop something else & Then they werent addressed again. It was weird. Dont drop bread crumbs for potential extra drama movie & Then not deliver on it in act 3.

Im sure parts of it were filmed here in Henley & on the Thames, there were bits where i was like i recognise that from the boat race or from campus stuff that we all see here each year, so it was weird to see America in the 1930s dropped around what in theory was Fulham football club which should have had scaffolding all over it.

The score does make it though. Even it moments without drama, just the little interludes. Oh it was powerful. A movie is nothing without a good score which gets to your soul.

Is it oscar bate…yes. Was it stuff id seen before…yes. Did i enjoy it… yes. As far as bate which wont get nominations is concerned this is pretty good. It has drama, suspense, & high stakes even though you knew the outcome. Thats what good directing does for you. George youve not lost your touch.