I fancied watching this film just because of Al Pacino and Oliver Stone but I have no real interest in American football at all.
Is there any other reason to watch this film? Is it purely about the sport or is that just what the story happens around?
Yes, I believe you have to know or like football to have an appreciation for this film BUT if you're a big fan of Pacino and Stone, then I think you'll come to terms with this movie in one way or another. I don't know anything about football (I'm a Filipina) and I don't really fancy or care much for it, if I had to pick a sport I know little or nothing about, it would probably be baseball. Baseball just seems to have that magical, mythical and pure quality about it that American football lacks. It seems like a sport created by the heavens or from such realm and handed down to mere mortals as a GIFT, whereas American football just doesn't affect me as much. I find that films about baseball transcend its limitations of knowlegeability, it rides on its spirit or passion, not on baseball 101. Anyone watch Field of Dreams? What about the Jimmy Stewart or Gary Cooper films about baseball?*sigh*
If it wasn't for my lack of experience, knowledge and appreciation for the sport, I would've given this film a higher rating, the editing is simply superb, everything seemed to work for this film (except for Cameron Diaz), BUT the film relies solely on a more specific group of people - Americans, American Football enthusiasts, and fans of both Pacino and Stone.
I gave this an 8/10 btw.
Whenever I get the urge to exercise, I lie down until it passes.
I don't mind American football although the stop-start nature (to allow for adverts) is irritating. This film makes the game more exciting than it usually is and Stone mentions that it is seperate from the way the NFL play the sport, and more like how Stone would like to see it played.
That said, the party scenes in this and GOAL! (a Mexican kid joins Newcastle Utd then Real Madrid to play 'soccer') are quite similar.
american football as you can say is the best sport in the world by far, anyone who says otherwise never give it a real chance to like to know all the strategy the beauty of this magnficient sport
and by the way i'm from brazil, yeah brazil and i'm saying american football is better then soccer, by a mile
lol.
ARE YOU GONNA BARK ALL DAY LITTLE DOGGY... OR ARE YOU GONNA BITE ?
I don't see a whole lot of skill in NFL. From what I can tell the 2 teams line up in the middle and run full bore into eachother like bulls while one player passes the ball to the quarterback that hurls the ball down the field in the hopes that it'll be caught and ran to a touchdown and meanwhile anyone else on the field can just knock the crap out of anyone else in barbaric fashion.
In Australia we have Aussie Rules Football which isn't played being covered head to toe with padding and helmets and isn't full of big meat heads running into eachother like bulls but rather many diversely skilled players taht have to kick or handball the ball up the ground and you can only tackle someone that has the ball and it has to be a clean tackle where you don't touch the neck or above. The skills required are accurate kicking and handpassing, running and being able to bounce the oval ball every 15 steps and being able to kick through the centre posts for a goal. I've barely even touched upon what goes on in a game of Aussie Rules football but what I've described is already ten times more skillful and technical than the NFL.
And by no means is Aussie Rules a soft sport. Check out any hilight reels on youtube of big biffs and bumps and you'll see some of the carnage that's gone on in Aussie Rules. A prerequiset (sp?) to being an NFL player is apparently being big and strong and ready and willing to charge through people like a bull whereas Aussie Rules requires many diverse skills to be a competent all round player.
I just laugh at all the American movies that make such a big deal of how amazingly talented a quarterback is for throwing a friggin ball down a field when the Aussie Rules players that win the Brownlow Medal each year are infinitely more skilled sportsman that really deserve respect and adulation.
American football and the NFL are the biggest sport in the United States (population: 300+ million). If you look at the audience, even many immigrants quickly become fans of the sport, so this isn't some insular, "stupid" American tradition. So while America-bashing is the favorite pastime of the rest of the world, I ask you to consider how so many of our 300M people (each individually choosing to enjoy football) could be so wrong if the sport is so bad?
Despite the fact that you appear to know next to nothing about American football yet still bashed it, I won't do likewise. I don't know much about Ausie football. But I do know Australia has a population of about 20 million, so your small country can keep its small sport and continue to look down on the far more popular American football and NFL, while we continue to ignore your football.
Not a fan of football at all, baseball is my game. That being said, football is not an easy sport. As someone else said, its made to look easy. Years ago I saw a video of some of the best players set to ballet music. It was a perfect representation of the type of intellect and physical strength + dexterity that go into the game. Just like ballet, looks easy but is hard as hell.
Back to the movie. As I've said, don't follow football, don't like it. This movie is in my top 20 of all time. The issues Pacino goes through could be had by any aging coach (Joe Torre anyone?) The performances and pacing take care of the rest of the film.
DeeDee
Quantum Of Solace7 of 10
Brother's Keeper 7 of 10
No Skill? All they do is run into each other? I must admit the beauty of how skillful the athletes in the NFL are is they make it look so easy. There are incredibly different skillfull activities all happening at the same time all over the field. The Linemen which appear to you as big strong fat guys running into each other work on their footwork as much as a professional dancer does. The RB's who are the people that appear to you as just little guys who run with the ball have to foreshadow where the running lanes will open up or how to fight off a defender, whether or not to stiff arm a guy, try to spin out of a tackle or maybe even hurdle a defender who is trying to destroy him. The Wide Receivers appear to you as bloaks who simply run down the field hoping to catch the ball are usually as fast as the most elite sprinters in the world. They have the skill to run pecisionly timed and shaped routes and catch speeding bullets out of the air all while trying to fight off defenders. And then you have the QB , well I could write a book about how much skill is involved in that position. The fact is that any of these athletes would most likely dominate your Aussie rules football while even your best Aussie Rule Athletes don't have the speed, strength, size, hand eye coordination to make the roster of a division III college team.
Oh Wait I think there is a former Aussie Rule Player who is a punter for the Philadelphia Eagles. I believe his name is Sav Rocca. Other than the kicking game which is probably the only one dimensional positions in American Football, Aussie Rules players couldn't play this game.
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No Skill? All they do is run into each other? I must admit the beauty of how skillful the athletes in the NFL are is they make it look so easy. There are incredibly different skillfull activities all happening at the same time all over the field. The Linemen which appear to you as big strong fat guys running into each other work on their footwork as much as a professional dancer does. The RB's who are the people that appear to you as just little guys who run with the ball have to foreshadow where the running lanes will open up or how to fight off a defender, whether or not to stiff arm a guy, try to spin out of a tackle or maybe even hurdle a defender who is trying to destroy him. The Wide Receivers appear to you as bloaks who simply run down the field hoping to catch the ball are usually as fast as the most elite sprinters in the world. They have the skill to run pecisionly timed and shaped routes and catch speeding bullets out of the air all while trying to fight off defenders. And then you have the QB , well I could write a book about how much skill is involved in that position. The fact is that any of these athletes would most likely dominate your Aussie rules football while even your best Aussie Rule Athletes don't have the speed, strength, size, hand eye coordination to make the roster of a division III college team.
I'm not defending the other American poster, nor am I about to get into any real detail here. But you are making the same unfounded assumptions as the previous poster. No offense, you seem to already know this, but you have no place judging or comparing American Football to any other sport based on your lack of knowledge.
The only thing that is indisputable is the complexity and strategy of American Football that is unrivaled by any other sport - by far. We can't sit here and compare athleticism or skill until we can get all of the players out on the same field - it's just sheer speculation otherwise.
Id take a soccer player in a marathon (an NBA player second), a rugby player in a fight, an NFL WR/RB/DB in a sprint, an NFL linemen in a wrestling match and an NFL QB in a IQ test... and an MLB pitcher in a drinking contest...lol
Hi, i think i can possibly help out both the NFL, and the Aussie rules fans?
Maybe?
I love all football codes and watch them all with great interest. I am definetly a fan of all codes, (Swans for AFL!, Pat's (preparing to be lynched by all the nfl fans on here...) for NFL etc. etc.)
First off, my reply to jerred.. i'd take the following football code players in various athletic races!:
Marathon: AFL (australian football) Player (they run the furthest and are the fittest of all Footballers).
Fight: Rugby player (not a rugby league player (seperate sport).
Sprint: NFL WR or Rugby/Rugby League Winger/Fullback. Honestly even some AFL players could do it.. but i'd say that these guys specifically train to be lightning quick, with power strength and less fitness.. where as afl players train slightly more generically.
Wrestling Match: Lineman or Rugby Prop Forward (either one would crush all others!)
IQ test: impossible to work out. One of the smartest footballers around was John Eales.. a second row forward from rugby! Coaches are the smartest!
Drinking contest: me!
Anyway. This arguement between AFL and NFL is absurd. Both games involve a great level of tactical planning to play. The main difference is, that alot of the tactical development for NFL is done mid-week by the coaches, and the QB and alot of the bit part players tend not be as heavily involved. In AFL, this level of tactical planning is also done, however there is more freedom on gameday for the midfield and other team players to be more involved in tactical changes on the fly, instead of merely running memorised routes for different plans. I realise that some NFL systems have more flexibility than others.. but the very fact that teams use specific offense systems instead of a more generalised adaptable style of play, is the main tactical difference.
The whole arguement that any football code is more tactically complex than another is a bit silly. (excepting rugby league.. which essentially takes the stop start nature of nfl, and combines it with the basic idea of rugby, but then takes away the competition for the ball...essentially dumbing it down..)
To the person before that said NFL is the only sport where 1 bad player can cost your team a season? That is completly wrong. a poor special teams player would not cost a team a season! neither would an average performance from pretty much every player, due to the deep playing roster and ability to replace a player mid-game with NO penalty. In rugby, a poor performance by a prop, will cost you EVERY scrum, a poor 2nd row, EVERY lineout. a poor fly-half or scrum-half is EXACTLY the same as a poor QB performance. Same in rugby league, same in the ruck/midfield for AFL. In soccer, a poor performance by any player will cost you, as it means the other team has a clear weakness to exploit. I would argue that in ANY football code team sport, all members of the team must be on their game for victory. It is the sports like Baseball and Cricket that this is less of an issue ;-).
So in summary... this whole arguement is stupid!
It wouldn't hurt to know football, but most of the movie has more to do with the characters involved. Even if you've never watched an NFL game in your life you can figure out what is going on.
shareI don't hate it. But like 90% of world population I just don't care at all about that sport. I have seen more movies "about american football" than american football matches (at least complete matches). And I mean it!.
Having said that, you can guess that I am not precisely a fan of this show/sport. Anyway I really like the work of both: Al Pacino and Oliver Stone. So I decxided to watch AGS. Long story short: I really enjoyed the movie. Pacino and Jamie Foxx were both terrific, even Cameron Díaz was good, just like the rest of the cast. The hyperkinetic editing plus the incredible shots that Oliver Stone managed to obtain using every trick imaginable suited this "sports movie" perfectly (On the supplements you can see a player running with a camera kinda attached to his back!).
Perhaps not amongst Stone's best films, but still quite good. IMO this is the best american football movie I've ever seen by far.
8/10
I talk to a couple of long time NFL players and the both told me its the most unrealistic movie ever and Stone was smoking these ideas about the game.
shareI watched it for the actors also. I honestly think football is a joke. And the portrayal of football players in this movie made me hate it even more. the acting in this movie was great.
shareI love American football; absolutely hated this movie though.
You can't patronize your captain! That's a sea law!