We Are Marshall

Filmmakers have presented an unvarnished drama about Marshall University and the people who love it, and the results are inspirational.

Equally thrilling and wrenching, the film is an absolute must for anyone who loves sports and an eloquent explanation for those who don't understand what the fuss is about.

To the movie's credit, the cast is better than average.

Full of good intentions, We Are Marshall has a game plan that's hard to fault, but as with any playbook, a scheme is only as good as how well it's executed.

We can only speculate why McConaughey chose to play the role this way, but in all honesty, it's a good thing he did. His loony performance is the only surprising thing about this otherwise paint-by-numbers inspirational drama.

There are so many emotions in We Are Marshall that there's hardly any room for football -- and when we finally get some, even THAT'S clogged with excess feeling.

No go. Marshall deserved better than this misbegotten tribute.

Based on a true story, but still very formulaic. The film could have benefited from being grittier and more realistic. It manages to capture the strong and tragic emotions, but when it tries to be inspirational, it pulls out a series of tacky speeches and slow motion back slaps. The story has a great beginning, setting up a town **** tragedy. The build up is ominous, but still leaves room for surprise. The cast is littered with fantastic actors, from an unaccredited Robert Patrick, Ian McShane, and David Strathairn. Each of them plays their roles very well, and I liked the view of different townsfolk. It would have been nice to see more of the town, as McShane and Strathairn are two of the highlights. It also emphasized the painful loss and the needed hope. It does manage to raise some goosebumps, and its raw power is enough to propel it into the end zone. Moving, inspirational, but less than subtle.

One of my all-time favorite sport movies. It's such a tragic, touching story. I like the way this film balances plot and sport, with sports serving almost as a secondary element. Very touching film. Underrated/appreciated in so many ways.

We Are Marshall does not have the impact that the classic football films have. McG is the director for this film and we all know what kind of track record he has with films like Terminator Salvation and Charlie's Angels Full Throttle. We Are Marshall is more of the same. The film starts out well with tragedy but the script does not allow the viewer to get behind the team. The script relies far to much on characters that really don't matter rather than just stick with the football team. Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox are both decent in this movie and they are certainly the highlights of a fairly talented cast including a young Kate Mara and Anthony Mackie. Despite the strong effort from the two Matthews their characters still remained underdeveloped and the film just does not make the cut.

I always think, man, if an actor performs badly, it is the fault of the director, and not the actor. I truly believe that actors are victim of poor scripts and poor directing. Matthew and the other talented men and women are thrown under the wheels of a horrible screenplay, with shallow dialogue, cliched characters, and superfluous, melodramatic sequences. I feel for these people...