Movie Review: We Are Marshall

We Are Marshall (2006) 

Directed by McG

Written by Jamie Linden 

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, Ian McShane, Anthony Mackie, Kate Mara, January Jones

Release Date December 22nd, 2006

Published December 22nd, 2006 

College football fans know of Marshall University as the alma mater of all pro wide receiver Randy Moss and quarterback Byron Leftwich. For football fans in Huntington West Virginia however, Marshall football is not just an NFL footnote, it's a way of life. A way of life that in 1970 nearly came to a violent end. In the blink of an eye a plane crash ended the lives of nearly the entire Marshall football team and support staff.

How Marshall rose from the ashes and rebuilt their shattered program is the well examined and moving subject of We Are Marshall from director McG.

In 1970 the Marshall University football team was returning from a loss to East Carolina University when their plane was struck by lightning. All 75 people on board were killed. We Are Masrshall tells the inspiring story of how the school and the town it supports picked themselves up and got back to the business of football and life.

In the fall of 1971 football coach Jack Lengyel accepted the most difficult coaching job in all of college football. Lengyel was named the new head coach of the Marshall University Thundering Herd. Less than 12 months before Lengyel accepted the job, most of the team; along with a few fans and boosters, were killed in a plane crash. The program wasn't expected to survive and now, less than a year later, Lengyel is tasked with rebuilding it from the ground up.

The story of the rebirth of Marshall football and of the small town of Huntington West Virginia that lives for it; has all of the inspirational elements to make a treacly after school special, or worse, another predictable, cloying Disney sports movie. However, thanks to the surprisingly mature and assured direction of McG, the director best known for the goofy, juvenile action of the Charlie's Angels movies, We Are Marshall manages to escape many of the pitfalls of the typical sports movie.

The first act of We Are Marshall is direct and to the point. It engages the audience in the tragedy while establishing the prominent characters including Matthew Fox as assistant coach Red Dawson who gave up his seat on the fateful flight to a fellow coach. Ian McShane as Paul Griffin who was one of Marshall football's biggest boosters until his son was killed in the crash. And finally Kate Mara as Annie whose boyfriend was Paul's son and who also provides the movies narration.

The other members of this terrific ensemble include David Straithairn as School President Donald Dedmon and a pair of players who because of injury did not travel with the team that week, Anthony Mackie as team captain Nate Ruffin and Arlen Escarpeta as quarterback Reggie Oliver. Each of the supporting players is given just enough time to hit the notes they need to hit in order to make this movie work.

Balancing such a large ensemble cast and managing to make each of the characters meaningful and engaging is a trick many veteran filmmakers struggle with. That is why the work of McG is so surprising. In only his third outing as a director, after showing ony light hearted, goofball tendencies in the Charlie's Angels movies, McG shows a great talent for getting all that he can out of his actors and his story with a mixture of quick exposition and smart performances.

Much credit goes to screenwriter Jamie Lindell who paired down a large number subplots into a smart, quick moving script that involves and engages. This is a rare script that manages to take typical genre elements and give them meaning and drama while still hitting the familiar notes. The characters are well established and despite there being so many characters, a mere few could be called underdeveloped.

The lynch pin of We Are Marshall is Matthew McConaughey whose off kilter performance starts out cringe inducing and becomes endearing. As we are introduced to coach Jack Lengyel, McConaughey plays him with heavy voacl affectations and physical tics. He walks funny, talks funny and dresses funny, even by 1970's standards. The amount of detail that McConaughey brings to the role threaten to tip over into parody and upend the strong drama of the first act of the film.

Thankfully director McG and writer Jamie Lindell give McConaughey scenes that go along way to explaining and justifying the coach's oddball personality. In a scene where Jack Lengyel is introduced to the media as the new head coach of Marshall football, Lengyel fumbles questions about whether the program should continue. The scene establishes that this is not just another inspiring figure with all the answers. Later in the film, when Lengyel sits down with Paul Griffin to try and get his support, once again the scene doesn't lead to an inspiring moment but rather Lengyel demonstrating the jockish charm that is his character but is not something that will get through Griffin's grief.

Of course Lengyel has an inspiring speech leading into a big game late in the movie but even here, McConaughey as Lengyel doesn't inspire with simplistic platitudes but rather the speech includes questionable choices that border on inappropriate unless you know Jack Lengyel, which over the course of this movie we enjoy doing.

I wouldn't go as far as to say McConaughey is Oscar worthy in this role but compared to the rest of his rather soft resume, this is a really strong performance. He leads one of the better ensemble casts assembled this year including performances by Matthew Fox and Ian McShane that could in fact be awards worthy. McConaughey's unique and charming performance is the reason We Are Marshall exists, Fox and McShane are why you are likely to love this movie.

We Are Marshall sidesteps the pitfalls of typical sports movies with a smart, charming performance by Matthew McConaughey and an inspiring story that manages to not be a mess of treacly cliches and simple uplift. We Are Marshall is an emotional and invigorating story well told by a director you would never imagine could be so mature and self assured. McG may still go by some ridiculous nickname but here he shows he has real talent and possibly a bright future.