Race (2016)

Absolutely amazing

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

(Flash Review)The movie kicks off with the story of Jesse Owen as he started his collegiate career at Ohio State through the 1936 Olympics. It touched on his training as well as discrimination not only from his race but parallels with Germany and their abuse of Jews. Littered with many cliché moments, there is also some very well produced scenes and sets and one great single shot from when Owen's enters the Olympic stadium to him taking his marks and the race completion; not cuts and complimented with a good musical score. Overall it is an entertaining and quality produced Hollywood period piece even though it doesn't dive too deep into the racial topics.

Firstly there are a lot of good things about this movie. First, it is a story that needed to be told. Jessie Owens was one of the greatest athletes of all time, yet because he was black his achievements did not give him the rewards it should have. Had he been white he would have been set for life. Sadly this shows what a racist country America is, despite their dictating to other countries such as Nazi Germany and South Africa, America has always practised extreme racism and segregation, especially in the South. The fact that the President did not have Jessie in the White house but entertained the other athletes speaks volumes. Although this is hinted at in the movie, especially near the end when Jessie and his wife have to use the trade entrance to a hotel where they were holding an event in HIS honour, I felt that this could have been shown more in the movie. The racism of red neck type footballers in university was not enough. The other thing that irritated me was the way Jessie's white coach was featured as being almost responsible for how good Jessie was. How true there relationship was is not clear, but him making sure Jessie did not have to work to pay for his college fees was made up. Stephan James does a good job in the title role but looks very little like the real man. Shanice Banton as his understanding wife was very good and stole every scene she was in.So over all a good movie, still worth watching that could have been more hard hitting and accurate.

Review: I really enjoyed this Jesse Owens biopic, which shows how he won his many Gold medals at the 1936 Olympics, under heavy racial tension from the Germans but I was hoping to see more about the man himself, who was truly an amazing athlete. Jesse Owens is played by Stephan James, who leaves the streets of Cleveland Ohio, and goes Ohio State to pursue his dreams to become a track and field star, with his close friend Dave Albritton (Eli Goree). Meanwhile Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis) is having problems as the coach at Ohio State, because he hasn't had an national win since he has arrived, so his job is on the line and he isn't impressed with the daily candidates, who lead to nothing. After watching Owens train, and being very impressed with his times, he decides to take Owen under his wing and he shows him the ropes of becoming a star. Behind the scenes, Avery Brundage (Jeremy Irons) is fighting to allow Black and Jewish competitors at the Olympics but with the racist political views from Hitler and his assistants, it takes some time for Avery to convince the Germans that it would make a better games if they are allowed to compete. Anyway, once the games eventually get going, Jesse Owens smashes loads of records and wins numerous gold medals for his country. Its a truly great achievement for a black man, in that day and age, and the relationship between Owens and Snyder was quite emotional. I would have liked to have seen some more depth to the characters but apart from that, it's an entertaining movie which portrays a time in sports, which changed the game forever. Enjoyable!Round-Up: Personally, I think that this movie needed a top director to bring the intense emotion across to the big screen but Jamaican born Stephen Hopkins done a decent job. His previous titles include A Nightmare on Elm Street 5, Predator 2, which wasn't close to the first movie, Judgement Night, Blown Away, The Ghost in the Darkness, Lost In Space, Tube Tales, Under Suspicion, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers and The Reaping in 2007, starring Hilary Swank. He has also worked on numerous TV series like, 24, House of Lies, Californication, Shameless and the Unusuals, so he has quite a decent portfolio to date. With so much information available about Jesse Owens achievements, this movie seemed a bit safe, but with that aside, it's great that he brought this amazing story to light. I would have liked to have seen a top actor play the main role, like Will Smith did with Ali but that's not to say that Stephan James didn't do a good job. Although this film made a decent profit, it would be good to see a BIG budget version of Jesse Owens life, because it's truly an inspiring story that a lot of people can learn from.Budget: $5million Worldwide Gross: $25millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their biography/history/dramas, starring Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis, Eli Goree, Jeremy Irons, William Hurt, Carice van Houten, David Kross, Shanice Banton, Tim McInnerny and Glynn Turman. 5/10

There is a lot of important history presented in this movie. There is some spin as well. The film does go over Owens records - Jesse set or tied national high school records in the 100 yard dash, 200-yard dash, and the long jump. After a stellar high school career, he attended Ohio State University. On May 25, 1935, at the Big Ten Conference Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Owens broke three world records (long jump, 220- yard dash and 220-yard low hurdles) and tied a fourth (100-yard dash), all in a 45 minute span.In his junior year at Ohio State, Owens competed in 42 events and won them all, including four in the Big Ten Championships, four in the NCAA Championships, two in the AAU Championships and three at the Olympic Trials.In 1936, Jesse became the first American in Olympic Track and Field history to win four gold medals in a single Olympiad by winning four gold medals: 100 meter dash in 10.3 seconds (tying the world record), long jump with a jump of 26' 5 1/4" (Olympic record), 200 meter dash in 20.7 seconds (Olympic record), and 400 meter relay (first leg) in 39.8 seconds (Olympic and world record). In 1976, Jesse was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award bestowed upon a civilian, by Gerald R. Ford. Owens was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush.Very good acting by the entire cast in this one. The acting and the script here are powerful. It is amazing that Truman, JFK, LBJ, Carter, and Reagan never honored Owens. At least Cleavon Little and Mel Brooks mentioned him in Blazing Saddles.The sad truth to the Owens story is how much it hammers home the racism in the US in the 1930's, as FDR never even honored Owens. The film loses accuracy points on the concern of people in the US about racism in Nazi Germany. Yes, the NAACP asked Owens not to compete, but no, that organization was not speaking for the majority of Americans at that time. That is a more modern spin on this story as this same point of view is being used to justify apologizing for things that happened 200 years ago. It would not change history.If Owens had not gone to Berlin, no one would have noticed. Because he did, the world noticed though it changed very little of what would come to be.