Okay, sports (and film) fans, ready for another true tale of an underdog athlete overcoming the odds? Of course, since that’s a staple of this popular film genre. Ah, but this is of a somewhat “mixed” cinema breed. That’s because most sports flicks concern a player overcoming physical adversity, be it a disease (MY ALL AMERICAN) or injury (BLEED FOR THIS). Ah, but in this fact-based drama, the hardship is a prison record. So that “mix” is the inspirational sports biography and a “take on the system” courtroom drama. That’s’ the football/legal battle at the heart of the tale of the “real” man named BRIAN BANKS.
His story begins at what should be the end of his long struggle. Brian (Aldis Hodge) is called into the police station office of his parole officer Mick (Dorian Missick). Seems that because of a new California law, all sex offenders (Brian is finally out after doing six years on a rape charge) must wear a GPS ankle monitor and stay a 1000 feet away from any public park or school (and be home at night for the device to charge). This complicates the 27-year-old’s employment search (nobody wants an ex-con). Things look promising at a local gym, especially when Brian meets the cute personal trainer Karina (Melanie Liburd). But the past catches up again, so with the encouragement of his devoted mother Leomia (Sherri Shepherd), Brian sends another letter to Justin Brooks (Greg Kinnear) at the California Innocence Project (CIP) in hopes of getting their help in overturning the conviction. When Justin explains that they really work with those still in jail, Brian tells him of that incident when he was a sixteen-year-old football phenom at Long Beach ‘s Polytechnic High School. A brief romantic encounter with another student named Kennisha (Xosha Roquemore) in a school stairwell (after some kissing, the noise of other students stops Brian from going “all the way”) leads to him being arrested in his home for her rape. On the advice of his lawyer, Brian pleads no contest in hopes of getting probation. Instead, the judge slaps him with five years in prison. In his first two years in “juevie”, Brian is inspired by a lecturer (Morgan Freeman) whose words help him get through his three years in prison (including 60 days in solitary). Justin and the staff of the CIP decide to take on his case, but time is running out. They must get his day in court before his parole term runs out, otherwise, any dreams of pro football (a long shot for a 27-year-old) will be over. In the words of Brooks, “something miraculous must happen”.
In the title, and in a “breakthrough” performance, is Hodges who brings boundless energy and compassion to the troubled sports star. As yet another wall springs up in his path, Hodges shows us the frustration, much like a kettle on a stove ready to boil over at any moment. But he also shows us that he has learned to temper and back away from that frustration. In those high school sequences, Hodges also shows Brian’s confusion, as though he was gliding about in a waking nightmare, one that’s ended with horror by the sound of the judge’s gavel. He makes Banks a man of quiet dignity and intelligence, who will not give in to sorrow. Kinnear is once again the calm, steady “everyman” who tries to ground and guide Banks in his “justice journey”. His Brooks is a guy you want in “your corner”. Shepherd is the maternal “rock” who provides comfort (and some cash) to her baby boy, though she was surely traumatized when “5-0” cuffed him and dragged young Brian out of the home they shared. Liburd is radiant as the hesitant “angel” who responds to Brian’s spirit despite her own horrific school incident. Missick makes a strong impression as the “wart” on Brian’s backside who always phones just as things are going his way (“Banks, get outta’ there!”). And since he’s in the trailer (but not in the IMDB credits list), I can mention (and praise) the work of Freeman who brings a sense of gravitas and compassion (this guy knows prison life) as the man tossing a needed verbal lifeline to Banks
Though best known for his comedy films (with Jim Carrey, Robin W#illiams, and Eddie Murphy), director Tom Shadyac conveys the outrage of a man drowning in a legal whirlpool. And he shows us the despair of living with a stain on your character, and of a world that won’t allow those who “paid their debt to society” to have a “future”. Unfortunately, his “big house” scenes feel as though they could be lifted in and out of many other dramas. This may be due to the rather pedestrian script which often plays as more of a TV movie, particularly in the cloying romantic subplot and in the CIP office “pep rallies”. Many may find fault with the “big break” in the case, but it really happened (“truth is stranger, in this case really f#&*in’ stranger than fiction). The film does shine a bright spotlight on the court system (Brian fell through many cracks), but the telling here is just not the compelling, heartbreaking call to action that is worthy of Justin Brooks and, certainly, BRIAN BANKS. I’m calling a fumble.
2 Out of 4 Stars
