Review of Concussion (2015) by Aliceofx — 01 Mar 2016

Will Smith was good in this film and he created an interesting character. His doctor Omalu was not just a silly accent, as some have called him, but a many layered character with whom you could empathise in his struggles. And I also liked David Morse in his small part but Concussion's biggest problem is that it's really not a people story. It's more concerned about the events and and the people serve more as accessories to them.

Also they clearly didn't want to alienate football fans by making this a „football = bad" movie. But how they went about doing this was by having the various characters give „football is great" speeches and it all comes out as lots of tell and little show. If what they wanted to do was show why it matters to so many people they should have made the audiences feel what a majestic game it is. But they don't and the film becomes a boring fence sitter.

The best part about Concussion's story is its good themes about religion. Through out the film it talks about how sport has taken the church's place in the modern world and just how inadequate it is in that role. There are some smart things in this story but they are never fully realised.

Overall Concussion is a decent film but more fitting for the small screen.