The Boys In The Boat review by Bobby Blakey
George Clooney has cemented himself as not only a great actor, but a great filmmaker as well with films such as Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, The Monuments Men, The Midnight Sky and The Tender Bar. Now he is at the helm once again for this latest film The Boys In The Boat starring Joel Edgerton, Callum Turner, Peter Guiness, Chris Diamantopoulos, Sam Strike, and James Wolk, but could this film dot he history of this story justice or will it fail to make the team?
The Boys In The Boat follows the 1936 University of Washington rowing team that competed for gold at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. This inspirational true story follows a group of underdogs at the height of the Great Depression as they are thrust into the spotlight and take on elite rivals from around the world.
Most of the time I know a lot of these true stories that make it to the big screen, but this is one of those few that I didn’t know much about. I know that these films take some liberties with the stories to convert to a feature film but was still pretty interesting to see where it was all going and how interesting rowing could really be. As expected, the film delivers a great story albeit not as exciting as I thought it might be, but not in a bad way.
Obviously, this film is true to form focusing on the story of these boys and their journey to the Olympics, but it is even more so on their life journey along the way. The story is focused mostly on Joe Rantz played by Callum Turner. It’s always interesting to see how people fall into worlds they had no previous path on. Here it is out of necessity which gives him the dedication to just survive more than being a winner. This also becomes a journey of something so much bigger in finding purpose.
The story is simple but engaging. It is slow paced at times, but it is the way of
life and how it moves forward. I love the period look and feel of it all. It is always cool to see these time periods come to life and how different things were. The entire cast are great and work well to build the tension of their training and lives as they become more than just a rowing team. Joel Edgerton is great in the role of the coach, bringing his own depth to the character that is more than just the usual coach figure.
This is a great and inspiring film that hits all the marks you expect and manages to in fact make the rowing moments intense. It’s not breaking down any new walls in storytelling for me, but it is a great film that I think for the history alone is worth checking out.
Decide for yourself and check out The Boys in the Boat in theaters now from MGM.