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We Are Marshall (2006) DVD Review
We Are Marshall (2006) DVD Credits:
We Are Marshall (2006) Directed by:
Mc G
We Are Marshall (2006) Written by:
Jamie Linden
We Are Marshall (2006) Cast:
Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, David Strathairn, Ian McShane, Anthony Mackie, Kate Mara, Arlen Escarpeta
We Are Marshall (2006) Released by:
Not available at this time
Region:
1
We Are Marshall (2006) DVD Release Date:
17th September 2007
Our Rating: Extras Rating:

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We Are Marshall (2006) Synopsis:

The movie is about events following the 1970 plane crash that killed members of the West Virginia-based Marshall football team, along with most of its coaching staff, sports commentators and many of its local boosters.

We Are Marshall (2006) DVD Review:

Football is a way of life in some parts of the United States, which has been accurately portrayed in several football films already. While sports movies have even more predictable patterns than many other genre films, this works to We Are Marshall’s benefit. Rather than spending a great deal of time setting up the community’s dependence on the sport as a community activity, only a brief amount is needed and all of the films which dwelt on this matter jog our memory. This makes the set-up for the true story about Marshall University in the early 1970s much more effective, and also allows for a slight variation on the generic story we have seen so many times. Having established the foundation that the game has on the community of Huntington, West Virginia, and setting up a successful team that this community counts on, the plot takes a turn when seventy-five members of the team, community and coaching staff are killed in a plane crash after a game.

Matthew McConaughey is such a likable and charismatic actor that he is a natural choice to play a leader, and in this case a coach. McConaughey plays Jack Lengyel, a compassionate coach with the difficult task of rebuilding the football team at Marshall University. Remaining on the coaching staff is Coach Dawson (Matthew Fox), man who was supposed to be on the plane and is even listed as deceased in the paper the day after the accident. Although he survives by deciding not to get on the plane, Dawson also has the guilt of the man who took his spot on the plane. At first very few are excited about bringing the football program back to the school after so many key members are killed in the crash, but the remaining players are able to inspire enough confidence for the team to be built back up. The only way that there are enough players for the team is with the use of nearly all freshmen, giving them little chance of winning.

This truly is a heartwarming story, but the performances are so consistently fantastic all around that it pushes the film into greater depths. McConaughey is more than just charming and doesn’t even try to rely on his good looks. Instead this is a quirky, energetic, and completely engaging performance which has been carefully developed to best portray Lengyel. Ian McShane (Deadwood), so effective in all that he does, is certainly also worth mentioning as a grieving member of the community who loses a son in the crash. The sports elements are certainly key but they aren’t what make the film deserving of praise. To emphasize this point is the single special feature, a featurette about legendary coaches.


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We Are Marshall (2006) DVD review written by: Ryan Izay

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