Director: Peter Berg
Writer: David Aaron Cohen, Peter Berg (Screenplay) Buzz Bissinger (Book)
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Lucas Black, Garrett Hedlund, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez, Lee Jackson
Plot: Based on H.G. Bissinger’s book, which profiled the economically depressed town of Odessa, Texas and their heroic high school football team, The Permian High Panthers.
Tagline – Hope comes alive
Runtime: 1 Hour 58 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Friday Night Lights starts as we head to small Texas town of Odessa, which relies on their football team to keep them happy, the high school football who are ready for the new season with Coach Gary Gaines (Thornton) preparing his team, only for his plan to be shattered when his star player Boobie Miles (Luke) gets seriously injured.
As the other players Mike Winchell (Black), Don Billingsley (Hedlund) and Brian Chavez (Hernandez) look to make their impact, we learn that not all the players are drawn to the game, some are looking to their own futures, which are not getting the attention they need, while others are dealing with other problems in their home lives.
Thoughts on Friday Night Lights
Final Thoughts – Fright Night Lights is a movie where you need to understand the obsession with American Football, ho wit can motivate a town to remain strong through the troubles in life, while piling on the pressure that the high school students are facing, this did get spun into a TV series which would get to explore the problems the players are going through because we just don’t get the impact of the injured player who feels like his future is gone, the son living in the abuse of his father and one living under the shadow of his famous. The film doesn’t get the true spotlight on the personal problems, while showing the games in terrible camera angles, which if you don’t understand the sport will leave you wondering what is happening in the game.
