The Lights are on (Friday Night Lights (DVD))

Member Name: Ryandinho

Product:	Friday Night Lights (DVD)
Date:	08/04/09 (45 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gritty realistic sports film

Disadvantages: Repetitive nature of the story

Friday Night Lights is a film about the Permian Panthers, a high school American Football team from Odessa in Texas. Set in 1988, this is a film version of the book of the same name. The entire town of Odessa is football obsessed so the fate of the team is the most important thing in everyone's lives. While other sports films like Coach Carter involve a coach trying to not let his players become engrossed in winning to the detriment of the rest of their lives, Friday Night Lights is the opposite- Winning is Everything!

The main characters are Coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton), Mike Winchell (Lucas Black), Don Billingsley (Garrett Hedlund), Boobie Miles (Derek Luke) and Brian Chavez (Jay Hernandez). Coach Gaines is under pressure from everyone he meets to win the Texas State Championship and everyone he meets isn't shy about letting him know. Mike Winchell is the team Quarterback who doesn't really enjoy the game but plays it while putting himself under a lot of pressure. Don Billingsley is the son of a former State Championship winner and as a result, he can't live up to the expectations of his father. Boobie Miles is the teams star running back that everything revolves around. Brian Chavez is the leader of the team who uses his intelligence more that force.

The film does a good job of portraying an entire town demanding their high school team win and the pressures and rewards that are placed on the team as a result. The rewards are fame among the people of the town but failure and they will never live it down. While the desire to win is demonstrated well, it does become a bit tiresome when every background character says the same thing over and over until it becomes too repetitive to be something that adds to the film.

The film does have some really dramatic moments including when the teams entire fate rests on the toss of a coin. I think that is the main selling point of the film, the intensity and drama that it provides. It does a better job than most sports films in terms of being 'real' which is only a good thing.

Overall, I enjoyed Friday Night Lights, but the constant being told how important the game is got too annoying for me. I'd have liked one of the players to just quit and walk away from it because that's how I was feeling! It's worth watching though and is available for under £5 on Amazon so it's not too expensive either.

7.5/10

Summary: Worth a look!