Gridiron Gang Release Date: September 15, 2006 Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Xzibit, Jade Yorker, Maurice McRae, Trever O'Brien, Kevin Dunn, Leon Rippy Directed by: Phil Joanou
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has done many things — he's played football at Miami, won the WWE championship seven times, written a book. But can he act? In large part, the success or failure of Gridiron Gang hinges on this simple question. Sure, Johnson has performed passably well in previous action/comedy jaunts fighting off demons on Mars and the like. But can he pull off a dramatic role? Surprisingly, for the most part, the answer is yes, and the film is a success for it.
Johnson plays the role of probation officer Sean Porter. Along with his fellow officer, Malcolm Moore (Xzibit), Porter watches over a group of teenage felons at a juvenile detention camp. The boys are carjackers, crack dealers and murderers. The worst part is that, despite their best efforts, Porter and Moore aren't making a difference. Seventy-five percent of the young men released from the camp end up either in jail or dead on the streets.
When one of his former charges dies in a drive-by shortly after being released from the camp, Porter searches for something to break the cycle. He knows he needs to replace the role of gangs in the boys' lives. He settles on something that gave his own life purpose as a young adult — high school football.
In short order, Porter starts a football team for the teen convicts. The murderer, Willie Weathers (Jade Yorker) becomes the running back, the crack dealer (Maurice McRae) becomes the quarterback, and the carjacker (Trever O'Brien) becomes the wide receiver. After fighting the camp administration, finding opponents, and the obligatory team-practice montage, the boys are ready for their first game, which they lose spectacularly. The coaches and teens must then regroup, growing individually and as a team, as they fight their way toward the playoffs.
Based on a true story that also spawned the 1993 Emmy Award-winning documentary of the same name, Gridiron Gang is one in a long line of sports-themed male tearjerkers. And while the ideas aren't exactly new, several of the scenes will make you just as misty as anything you'll see in Rudy or Field of Dreams. In one scene, Porter confronts Willie, trying to convince the boy to change his ways before he ends up like his cousin (the youth killed in the drive-by at the beginning of the movie). The two end up bonding over their issues with their fathers, and the Rock (The Rock!) sheds a believable tear. Sure, for most of the movie he is only called upon to deliver invigorating monologues (much as he did during his wrestling days), but when the scene calls for it, he comes through in the clutch.
The football scenes are hard-hitting and intense, with fast-paced, in-your-face shots of tackles. It doesn't hurt that, for realism's sake, much of the movie was filmed at the real-life detention camp that inspired the film. It also doesn't hurt that, judging from the documentary clips shown during the closing credits, much of the film's dialogue came from the real-life events. You won't find nearly as many too-cutesy-to-be-believable moments as are in other films in the genre (the song-and-dance numbers from Remember the Titans, anyone?). The film's humor and the boys' violent struggles to escape their gangland pasts both ring true.
Of course, even though it is based in real-life, Gridiron Gang does follow Hollywood's formulaic "misfit kids come together as a team and win" storyline. And even though he displays surprising acting chops, it can still be difficult as a moviegoer to divorce Dwayne Johnson the actor from his wrestling persona. Yet, even with all that, "The People's Champion" has cooked up something that smells surprisingly good.
