[yasr_overall_rating]
A behind-the-scenes look at the life-and-death struggles of modern-day gladiators and those who lead them.
Oliver Stone is that caliber of director whose directorial style changes with every movie he makes. I really liked “Platoon”, “JFK” and “World Trade Center” whereas I really hated “Natural Born Killers”, “Alexander” and “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”. Every time he releases a new movie I literally have no idea what to expect and in a way, I like that. Unpredictability in filmmaking is good, it keeps you on your toes. “Any Given Sunday” was released back in 1999 and because it was a sports-themed movie, I never saw it. I’m not a sports person and I don’t care for football but I got the opportunity to watch the 15th Anniversary release and because I never saw the movie prior to screening it, I didn’t know which version of the movie to choose from, the theatrical version or the director’s cut so I threw caution to the wind and decided upon the director’s cut. After all, Mr. Stone likes his director’s cuts, see “JFK” and “Alexander” for proof of that.
Tony D’Amato (Al Pacino) is the head coach of the struggling Miami Sharks, a once-great American football team who have not won a championship in a very long time. His longtime friend and owner of the team has passed away and its control and ownership and everything associated with it has been relinquished to his daughter Christine (Cameron Diaz) who does not care for Tony and is ready for him to retire. Tony’s star quarterback, Jack (Dennis Quaid) is severely injured during a game and the team struggles to play out the remainder of the season without him. Enter Willie Beamen (Jamie Foxx), the team’s third-string quarterback and former seventh-round draft pick. While inexperienced in professional football, Tony gives him a chance and he knocks it out of the park and the team starts winning again. Naturally, Willie is elated and quickly becomes the new shining star but he is all about himself and his own personal aspirations, with not a thought for anybody else and that quickly affects his teammates, Tony in particular.
Tensions rise as Christine tells Tony that this will be his last season as the head coach and while Jack is recovering from his injuries and training so that he can get back in the game, she also demands that Willie play out the remainder of the season as the team’s starting quarterback, something Tony is adamantly against. As the team participates in the deciding game for the playoffs, Willie quickly realizes that his teammates would rather lose the game instead of win it because of his solo enthusiasm so he must do what is right if they have any chance of winning at all. As I stated earlier, I’m not a sports fan but here, Oliver Stone creates some of the most exciting football images I’ve seen on film. The entire cast excel in their corresponding roles and Mr. Stone has amassed quite an ensemble including the aforementioned Al Pacino, Jamie Foxx, Dennis Quaid, Cameron Diaz and some wonderful supporting character actors such as James Woods, LL Cool J, Matthew Modine, Ann-Margret, Aaron Eckhart and Jim Brown.
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