slinger1999

I knew before this film that the justice system in the U.S. is far from perfect. and having watched it only reinforced that in my mind. As far as I know, everything that is said in the film is from a transcript of some kind. They are actual words, not inventions of a filmmaker with an agenda. While the filmmaker probably does have an agenda, that doesn't make the ideas and content of the film any less valid.

For me, this film could stand as the entire argument against the death penalty. Punishments are supposed to be about justice. Justice is not a system where six innocent people can be sentenced to die because of purposeful deceit or accidental human error. In reality there have been many more people exonerated from death row, but that doesn't make the argument any stronger. It should only take one death of an innocent to convince any rational person that this punishment is not morally sound.

The only good part in this movie is Steve Zahn, who plays a hilarious total jerk. Dillon's performance as a disgruntled burn victim is wooden at best. Nobody but Zahn really needed to be in this movie. He is a guy you would never want to be friends with, but by the end of the movie, he is the most likable of any character, as they all reveal how easy it is to hate each and every one of them.

This movie starts out as a semi-romantic comedy, and with about 10 minutes to go, changes into a totally different, action-revenge movie, but with the same characters, and it doesn't work.

I would not recommend this to anyone except fans of Zahn.

The thought that I had the most when I was watching this movie is,"this is way better than Varsity Blues." I actually identified with these characters, mainly, because they are actual people with real life problems. The characters from Varsity Blues are your stereotypical teen comedy characters. You have your fat guy. You have your somewhat sensitive hero guy that has one problem that keeps him from succeeding, which is he doesn't want to go the same school his daddy went to. I can't even remember anyone else from that movie because you could replace them with anybody from any teen movie ever made. And of course, the ending tied everything up to where everyone was happy.

Friday Night Lights is different. It deals with the pressure that these real kids went through to perform perfectly. They have pressure from their coach, their families, each other, and the whole town. This town of Odessa, Texas lives for this team.

In most of the characters in this film, I could see parts of someone I knew from my own high school. There are great guys on this team, and there are jerks. There are heroes and there are disappointments. Everything about this movie has a sense of reality to it that no other football movie has touched.

There is something in the book that was hinted at near the beginning of the film but never really explored, that I wish were in the film. When they are eating in the diner and they get their food for free, it is because they are football players. What the movie doesn't say is that many of these guys were given that same treatment with their grades so they could stay eligible to play. I don't know if that would have been too many issues for this film to deal with, but I think it would have put an interesting spin on it.

One of the other things I loved about this movie is the score. It was written and recorded by a band called Explosions in the Sky, and they are an amazing instrumental rock group. Instead of the pop that most teen movies are filled with, these songs seem to be telling the story with sound, as most good scores do, but in a totally fresh and dynamic fashion.

Overall I would have to give this movie an 8 out of 10. Although the ending isn't a traditional Hollywood happy ending, there were a few scenes at the end that I felt didn't fit in with the rest of the film. I highly recommend this movie to anyone.