The Express is a movie able to make the viewer feel both inspired and saddened by Ernie Davis' story. However, there are many minor cinematic errors that inhibit The Express from becoming a truly great movie. Ernie Davis' story is really quite spectacular, being one of the greatest college football players of all time, overcoming racism, being the first black man to win The Heisman Trophy, and dying at a far too young age. The Express depicts these events and issues with emotion and sincerity. With some elite acting, a well-developed story, and lovable characters The Express is able to cover up some of the abundant cinematic mistakes that plague the film.
When viewing The Express one thing is absolutely undeniable, Dennis Quaid's performance as Coach Schwartzwalder is absolutely spectacular, and he really carries the movie as a result. While most of the actors in the movie are able to deliver their lines with emotion and sincerity, Dennis Quaid demonstrates his ability to truly become the character he is supposed to be, using actions and facial expressions. Through his near perfect performance he is able to cover up many of the amateur acting mistakes Rob Brown makes. Brown looks like Ernie Davis physically, but when he delivers his lines it lacks a certain emotion that is really needed, especially dealing with issues as vast as racism in sports in the late 1950s.
The storyline of Ernie Davis' life is incredible within itself. The way The Express tells the story keeps the viewer intrigued in what is going to happen, even when they know how the movie must end. Gary Fleder (the director) is able create a vital emotional attachment to most of his characters. Due to the back-stories of the characters, such as Ernie's childhood experience of running away from a group of white boys who want to beat him up for being African American, the viewer will be drawn into loving the entire Syracuse football team, thus caring about what happens to each of the characters as the story progresses.
Although there are all these triumphs in the way The Express is told that makes it a fun story to watch, as a movie it is not anything particularly incredible. The most substantial issue with this flick is the fact that is actually too flashy. Throughout many scenes there is so much going on technically (with oddly chosen effects or an over-abundance of background music) that it inhibits the storyline from progressing in a sensible pace. The scenes in which football games were actually depicted were prime examples of this, and while it could be due to an attempt by Gary Fleder to make the viewer see how much better Ernie was than the other players in an artistic way, personally, I saw it distracting when trying to understand Ernie's talent on the field. The same was true with the background noise at some point. Again, on the football field powerful noise is needed, but off the field, in the locker room or at school the ambient noise was rather distracting and hurt the dialogue greatly.
The Express is an inspirational movie that makes the viewer cheer and cry, but as a film it lacks in multiple technical areas.
When viewing The Express one thing is absolutely undeniable, Dennis Quaid's performance as Coach Schwartzwalder is absolutely spectacular, and he really carries the movie as a result. While most of the actors in the movie are able to deliver their lines with emotion and sincerity, Dennis Quaid demonstrates his ability to truly become the character he is supposed to be, using actions and facial expressions. Through his near perfect performance he is able to cover up many of the amateur acting mistakes Rob Brown makes. Brown looks like Ernie Davis physically, but when he delivers his lines it lacks a certain emotion that is really needed, especially dealing with issues as vast as racism in sports in the late 1950s.
The storyline of Ernie Davis' life is incredible within itself. The way The Express tells the story keeps the viewer intrigued in what is going to happen, even when they know how the movie must end. Gary Fleder (the director) is able create a vital emotional attachment to most of his characters. Due to the back-stories of the characters, such as Ernie's childhood experience of running away from a group of white boys who want to beat him up for being African American, the viewer will be drawn into loving the entire Syracuse football team, thus caring about what happens to each of the characters as the story progresses.
Although there are all these triumphs in the way The Express is told that makes it a fun story to watch, as a movie it is not anything particularly incredible. The most substantial issue with this flick is the fact that is actually too flashy. Throughout many scenes there is so much going on technically (with oddly chosen effects or an over-abundance of background music) that it inhibits the storyline from progressing in a sensible pace. The scenes in which football games were actually depicted were prime examples of this, and while it could be due to an attempt by Gary Fleder to make the viewer see how much better Ernie was than the other players in an artistic way, personally, I saw it distracting when trying to understand Ernie's talent on the field. The same was true with the background noise at some point. Again, on the football field powerful noise is needed, but off the field, in the locker room or at school the ambient noise was rather distracting and hurt the dialogue greatly.
The Express is an inspirational movie that makes the viewer cheer and cry, but as a film it lacks in multiple technical areas.