Review of Pride (2009) by Bernard O — 05 Aug 2007

Completely run-of-the-mill sports story further hindered by poor direction and bizarre editing errors. First the good: Terrence Howard is, as usual, very very good in the lead role. Howard brings a passion and fire to all of his roles that is quite impressive.

The swimming itself is exciting film as the camera fluidly bobs in and out of the water and over and under the swimmers. Also the movie does a remarkable job of creating the atmosphere of 1974 Philadelphia.

The music, the color scheme and the attention to clothing, building and automotive detail help create a sense of immersion. Alas the movie is held back by poor direction in the other scenes and a hodge podge of by-the-numbers plots and bizarre little structural inconsistencies.

Howard's character here, who should be rather fascinating, is only interesting because of Howard's performance rather than the script or characterization. Tom Arnold is God-awful as the 'evil' white preppy swim coach.

Bernie Mac is acceptable but nothing special. Honestly I found a lot of the small problems really took me out of the film (it's especially noticeable when the team leaves the building with the trophy in the final scene, where did the missing few minutes go? Where was the previously omnipresent PDR chant?).

This had the potential to be so much more...