George Clooney is out here making mid budget movies with mid level results for the fun of it. The Boys in the Boat is not going to change lives with its creation and story, but it is a passable two hour film based on an interesting story of deeply platonic friends, hopping in a real life rowing machine and cutting through the waves for Olympic gold. The story would have been predictable on its own, but the marketing for this film is some of the worst I have seen in a long time, showing the story, play by play, leaving absolutely no room for tension in the film itself. It assumes you know the outcome of the story, which I don’t think a lot of people do. For me, this took a lot out of the final moments but I could see that if you had avoided the trailer before seeing this, maybe you would be on the edge of your seat for the races and their outcome.
The story follows Joe Rantz (Callum Turner) as he is struggling his way through university, living in an abandoned car in a homelessness community on the outskirts of Seattle, Washington. He soon has to pay his tuition fees but can’t seem to find a job, until someone suggests he try out for the school’s rowing team, where he would get housing and wages. After an all too familiar training montage, we see that Joe along with seven other guys get picked for the team.
They start their journey out against a Californian junior team, winning their first race and showing their true potential to Coach Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton). This prompts him to invest more time into the team, to see if they could possibly qualify for the Berlin Olympics, which were being held that year.
The story has a lot around those plot points, little events and changes to the dynamics, like Joe meeting Joyce Simdars (Hadley Robinson) who he had a crush on back in the fourth grade. They reconnect as university students, sparking up a romance that has no real impact on the plot except for we have someone to watch be nervous while listening to the radio as the boys are in the boat race. Joe also lost his mother at a young age, and his father left in search of work when he was fourteen, so has been on his own since then. This plays a tiny part in the story, really only coming to a head towards the end, only to be solved by a speech - a quintessential element of any sports movie.
Beyond that, Joe has a nice relationship with George (Peter Guinness) who makes the boat for the boys. Joe helps varnish and upkeep the shell while having some emotional moments with George, stepping in as a father figure. I wish that both this relationship, as well as the one between Joe and coach could have been fleshed out a little bit more, giving us more to root for in the final moments.
Alternatively to that, I would have maybe liked if the story spent a little bit less time with Joe, expanding on the rest of the team, as we only really get to know anything about two other members, one of those being that he is quiet and knows how to play the piano.
Again, I think with more riding on the team’s shoulders, the races could have felt a lot more stressful and personal to the team, leading to a more victorious or defeated conclusion.
We skim along the surface for the most part though, with victories and losses only being felt through Joe and Coach Ulbrickson.
The technical side of the film is pretty up and down, with some relatively consistent camera work, mostly shining during the water sequences. This is also thanks to the editing which jumps between close and wide shots to pick up the pace of the action. The speed of the sport can be felt in the water though which I think is a vital part in trying to make this sport exciting to watch. I had some issues with the random zooms that happened sporadically, taking away the slick style that is present for the rest of the runtime.
The music was not for me, with its overly simplistic approach to emotion, playing upbeat piano in happy moments, uninteresting strings in emotional moments and an increase in pace to show the action. It felt formulaic in its approach, not adding anything to the story for me.
While the music was lacking, I didn’t feel the same way about the cast, with the leads giving a lot to the film, in particular Callum Turner and Joel Edgerton, both holding down their characters really well. I think that my favourite character was Luke Slattery as Bobby, the coxswain who for me was the main source of the tension in the races and brought a lot to the emotional motivation in the final act.
While I don’t think this one is going to go down as one of my yearly favourites, It passed by without being offensive. WIth more care, this could have been a lot more impactful as a story, portraying an interesting historical event, happening at the cusp of a war time. Either way, just because it didn’t float my boat, I have seen others responding pretty well to the action of the film. Feeling as though they were pushing for the boys to win, unsure how it would play out. That’s the good thing about films, we can all watch them coming in from different perspectives and react differently to their outcomes, but I’m right.
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