The Express

Based on a true story, "The Express" tells the story of Syracuse University star running back, Ernie Davis. The first black college football player to win the Heisman Trophy. The film follows Davis' through various struggles in his career. From filling the shoes of recently graduated Syracuse running back, Jim Brown, who some consider to be the greatest running back of all time, to confronting the deplorable racism of his coach, teammates, fans and society as he tries to deal with being treated as a superstar, and yet at the same time as a second-class citizen, to the realization of a possible career ending disease.

There are some very inspiring moments in this film, some very emotional moments that really help you care and feel for the characters. Dennis Quaid does a solid job as the coach, although at some points I wanted him to maintain his hard edge that he does a great job of establishing earlier in the film. I wanted his opening up to be a little more dramatic. The story jumps around a little too much, I felt like it needed to be tighter in terms of story telling and running time, it feels about 20 to 30 minutes too long. One mark of a solid sports movie is how the overall "sports goal" at hand ties in with the characters personal struggles and conflicts, i.e. Rudy making the team, Hoosiers winning the tournament, Rocky in the title fight, etc. It seems in this movie they struggle to clearly establish the "sports goal". Is it winning the national championship? Davis winning the Heisman? etc. The sports action is well done and not overplayed though.

It's rated PG, which I found a little questionable with the language, racial slurs and one semi-racy scene. Although they do a good job of trying to keep a Disney PG rating while not sugar coating how things were a few short decades ago, I still feel that being a little more realistic and accurate while incurring a PG-13 or even R rating would better serve. Overall it's a decent movie, somewhere in between a trip to the theater and a rental.

**1/2 out of 4