{"id":8905,"date":"2024-11-25T15:08:24","date_gmt":"2024-11-25T20:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=8905"},"modified":"2024-11-25T15:08:24","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T20:08:24","slug":"the-way-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/11\/25\/the-way-back\/","title":{"rendered":"The Way Back"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Way Back <\/strong>(2020)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warner Bros.\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 108 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language throughout including some sexual references)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Gavin O\u2019Connor\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Brad Ingelsby\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Rob Simonsen\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Eduard Grau\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 6, 2020 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Ben Affleck, Al Madrigal, Michaela Watkins, Janina Gavankar, Brandon Wilson, Charles Lott Jr., Will Ropp, Melvin Gregg, Lukas Gage, Da\u2019Vinchi, Jeremy Radin, Glynn Turman, Hayes MacArthur, Matthew Glave, T.K Carter, Jeremy Ratchford, Dan Lauria, Chris Bruno, Rachael Carpani, Marlene Forte.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $13.6M (US)\/$15.5M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0The biggest surprise in the sports drama The Way Back<\/strong> has nothing to do with the plot. A flawed coach whipping a team of underdogs into shape is a tale as old as The Bad News Bears. We\u2019ve been there and done that countless times since 1976. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn\u2019t. As it so happens, The Way Back<\/strong> is a case of the former, but that is not the big surprise either. No, it\u2019s Ben Affleck and his amazing performance as an alcoholic basketball coach not dealing with a major family tragedy. He plays the role with such skill and nuance; it\u2019s almost like witnessing a rebirth.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s no secret that I\u2019m not a fan of Affleck\u2019s acting. He\u2019s usually pretty wooden, a style on open display in the recent Netflix movie The Last Thing He Wanted. The Way Back<\/strong> is a 180 for the actor; he totally crushes it. Obviously, it\u2019s because the role is very personal for him. Affleck\u2019s own struggles with alcoholism are well known. He just finished a stint in rehab when he began filming this movie. He understands the nature of the beast because he\u2019s been there. He taps into his own experiences to help create a believable character. This is what Oscar performances are made of.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In high school, Jack Cunningham was a basketball superstar with a bright future. Then for reasons of his own, he gave it all up. Today, he\u2019s a construction worker by day and barfly by night. He\u2019s been separated from his wife Angela (Gavankar, True Blood) since a big tragic event rocked their lives. He\u2019s always drinking from the moment he wakes up in the morning until he passes out at night. He even takes a can of beer into the shower with him, that\u2019s how bad it is. Then he gets a call from the headmaster of the Catholic high school he used to attend. The school needs a new basketball coach and he wants their old star player. The team is a mess. They haven\u2019t even made the playoffs since Jack\u2019s time. He takes the job and sets about turning them into a winning team.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As I\u2019m sure you can surmise, The Way Back<\/strong> isn\u2019t just a mere sports movie; it\u2019s also about redemption and dealing with tragedy. You\u2019ll notice that I keep saying tragedy and nothing else. That\u2019s because the movie doesn\u2019t show these cards until late in the game. It builds up to it rather than reveal it right away. It\u2019s a gambit that works; it keeps you wondering what could be responsible for the protagonist\u2019s messy state. It\u2019s bad enough that he\u2019d rather suppress his emotions with beer and booze than deal with them. At the rate Jack is going, you know it\u2019s only a matter of time before the big crash-and-burn happens.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There\u2019s one thing I don\u2019t like about The Way Back<\/strong>. Maybe that\u2019s putting it a bit too strongly. There\u2019s one thing I don\u2019t buy about it. Yes, that sounds better. About midway through, Jack decides to quit drinking. He does it cold turkey. That\u2019s a HUGE mistake for somebody who drinks as much as Jack. He\u2019d be suffering from a major case of the DTs that would render him unable to function for at least a few days (if not longer). The movie never shows anything like this. Instead, it\u2019s more like an occasional drinker giving up beer for Lent. It should have a greater impact on a heavy drinker like Jack. I can\u2019t believe the makers and Affleck missed this.<\/p>\n

\u00a0When it comes to sports drama, The Way Back<\/strong> is fairly cliched. The players are types we\u2019ve met before like the kid with game but no self-confidence (Wilson) and the hothead who begs to be reinstated after the coach kicks him off the team (Gregg). There\u2019s also an assistant coach (Madrigal, Night School) content to be second-in-command and team chaplain (Radin) with faith in Jack. It contains familiar scenes like when a player\u2019s father (Carter, Doctor Detroit) dismisses Jack\u2019s talk of college scholarships as unrealistic. Yes, we\u2019ve seen it all before, but it works thanks to solid, confident direction by Gavin O\u2019Connor (Miracle, Warrior). The game scenes are legitimately thrilling; the drama is genuinely moving. Thanks to smart editing choices by David Rosenbloom, the games feel like real games as opposed to sports highlights videos. The score by Rob Simonsen is especially effective in how it\u2019s sparingly used. I like that O\u2019Connor doesn\u2019t rely on current pop songs to augment the action. That\u2019s one clich\u00e9 I can easily do without.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In the end, The Way Back<\/strong> isn\u2019t so much about who wins the big game as it is about Jack getting back into the game of life. He\u2019s going to miss a few shots along the way, but it\u2019s not an unobtainable goal. I\u2019d also like to call your attention to the great performance by Gavankar as the wife. She\u2019s more than a supporting player; she too is directly affected by the tragedy and Jack\u2019s subsequent behavior. Whenever she\u2019s around him, it\u2019s like walking on eggshells. She too is sad about what happened but it\u2019s compounded by Jack shutting down. Gavankar plays it perfectly. Despite a few flaws, The Way Back<\/strong> is a winner!\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Way Back (2020)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warner Bros.\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 108 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language throughout including some sexual references)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Gavin O\u2019Connor\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Brad Ingelsby\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Rob Simonsen\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Eduard Grau\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 6, 2020 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Ben Affleck, Al Madrigal, Michaela Watkins, Janina Gavankar, Brandon Wilson, Charles Lott Jr., Will Ropp, Melvin Gregg, Lukas Gage, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9142,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/The-Way-Back-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8905"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9144,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8905\/revisions\/9144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}