Review of Remember the Titans (2000) by Harry W — 11 Mar 2014

The last thing I expected from Remember the Titans was for it to be a Disney movie, but I would never miss a Denzel Washington film and I'm sure that with him on board they wouldn't mess it up.

American football films tend to be dark and gritty as they emphasise the savage nature of football. But with Disney producing the film, they emphasise the fact that "Football is about controlling anger" as Denzel Washington rates early on. That way it lightens to mood of the film without ever reducing itself into descending into melodramatic territory. And luckily enough, Boaz Yakin respects his viewers enough not to hide its racial subject matter away from viewers.

While the view of racism is dealt with rather simplistically, it does so in such a basic manner that young viewers are able to easily comprehend the idea and learn from it as well. Although at times it feels like the film is playing it a bit safe and only lightly touching upon its theme of racism so that it can still remain light and family friendly as a way of sticking with Disney standards, overall the experience was good. I liked the fact that the film lightly touched upon the theme because it reminds us that racial equality is really not something that needs to be dramatised, its simply just something that doesn't need to be thought about too much. Equality shouldn't require audiences to think and truly consider if it is ok, they should just acknowledge the fairness in it and move on. I guess all in all I have mixed feelings about how Remember the Titans tackles racism because it doesn't think too much about the idea and plays it a bit safe, but really it doesn't need to. The only problem is that since the theme is one of the most key to the film, it should be explored a bit better. And also, the film is rather predictable from start to finish and implements some childish elements in to make it more of a Disney feature which drains elements of the serious nature of the film, such as the character Sheryl Yoast who really doesn't seem believable and feels thrown in there just so that the film has a child to add to its list of characters.

And also, the drama within the plot elements seems rather scattered. While I enjoyed the drama and that it had a touch of comedy at times to lighten the mood, it didn't always feel like the drama had been as effective as it really should have been. The movie feels perhaps a little too light at times for a story which deals with such themes, and so as a drama Remember the Titans may be effective for young age groups without being too rough but is a little thin for the older crowds.

But aside from that, Remember the Titans is a successful film. It's largely a film about coaching, and coaching films don't tend to impress me as much as I'd hope. But Remember the Titans finds an important balance between the importance played by the coach and the actual team itself. Although it may not be as widely intelligent and interesting as it could be, as a sports film, it has a lot of heart and uplifting spirit to it which is where the importance lies.

Remember the Titans is well written and is packed to the edge with a lot of interesting characters so that every plot dynamic the story goes through maintains various sources of interest. In Remember the Titans, you have to be able to remember that the importance comes from how the coach and the team work together, so a lot of what is interesting comes from the ways that the team members interact with each other throughout the film and its various plot dynamics. And thanks to the efforts of the cast, the characters are interesting enough.

Denzel Washington is an actor who never lets me down, and Remember the Titans is no exception. His performance captures all the dedicated spirit necessary for the characterisation of Coach Herman Boone without going over the top. Denzel Washington's performance in Remember the Titans is a restrained one and in that manner it proves effective and inspiring, therefore having both Denzel Washington and Herman Boone essentially pay tribute to one another by putting Denzel Washington in the role. Denzel Washington is the highlight of Remember the Titans, and it is his performance that will actually leave viewers remembering rhe Titans.

Will Patton's performance is an effective one as well, because due to the strong way he interact with all the other actors in Remember the Titans, his role as Coach Bill Yoast is a fairly good one which pays the man the tribute he deserves. He's no Denzel Washington, but he's undeniably good.

I'm never gonna forget Donald Faison for her performance as Chris Turk in Scrubs, so I was surprised when I saw him in Remember the Titans. But I was very enthralled because I think he's a great actor who is very talented as well as hilarious, and his performance in Remember the Titans was full of the same energy that he put into 9 seasons of Scrubs without going as far as putting a comedic focus on his character. He just puts a lot of charming spirit into his performance, and it makes the entire experience more enjoyable by playing a friendly figure. Donal Faison is a great addition to the cast in Remember the Titans.

Kip Pardue gave a meaningful and friendly performance as well, as did Ethan Suplee. And a young Ryan Gosling makes an appearance too which is good to see.

Lastly, Remember the Titans is well filmed and benefits from a strong soundtrack. Although some of the time the editing during football matches is rather quick, overall the visual experience is fairly good, thanks in part to a lot of quality scenery which has been shot on location.

So while Remember the Titans may be a bit light for its own good its sporting spirit and dedicated cast make it an uplifting look at American football that honours the titular team very well.