The title ‘The Unstoppables’ would be more fitting, because this based on true life sportsman who faces odds and thrives, only to evolve into a motivational speaker saga, contains two protagonists. One is Anthony Robles (Jharrel Jerome), a one-legged wresting champion, and the second, is a battered domestic violence survivor and devoted mother to Anthony by the name of Judy Robles (Jennifer Lopez), whose own life story is worthy a tale itself as is her sustenance for her son.
This is so painfully predictable. Never mind the fact that the title gives it away, the film opens with Anthony winning a national title and his high school coach, Bobby Williams (Michael Peña) and mother are present in the audience. From then on, it has all the rehearsed beats of a sports bio drama, the winning and the losses and the jackpot, the adrenalizing montage, the sports journalists gushing over his achievements, nay-sayers being proven wrong and finally the credits rolling with happily ever after updates of the real-life pillars of the story.
People would never buy a ticket to such a poor film. I will admit, this would be on par with most Hollywood stories, as almost every film has top stars enhancing the quality. I wouldn’t mind watching it, however, that is not the point of focus. What is noteworthy is that Robles was a stunt double for Jerome, which is why this story feels real.
While all of this is true, Closely Watched Trains is worth the praise is has received due to the final performance of the film. The Story itself would garner interest from individuals within society, but in order to make it believable, it requires a ton of effort to visualize. Anthony can relate to this as he saw his mother having no problem visualizing stories in fiction. Take his stepfather into account, for instance, who is played by Bobby Cannavale. Rick has a no-nonsense attitude and is extremely aggressive which would be appropriate considering the traits of law enforcement. Rick on the other hand is not ashamed to talk about how tough he is with his enemies. So, it should be no surprise that Rick has a lot of children who see Anthony as a role model. Still, Anthony is adamant about considering Rick his dad because he has never been head of a household.
The opening game, we observe, is a bolt from the blue for Anthony and Judy. When girls in the stands watch him walk towards the national championship thigh crutches, one girl cheekily says, “Is this the sports for charity or some filming for a joke?” And then Anthony wins so they and we see what he can do.
Anthony at this moment is a hot shot high school player trying to catch the eye of a profiting college program. He gets a full ride offer from Drexel and Rick tells him to grab it with both hands. But worryingly, Anthony is interested in Judy and looking after his brothers and sisters and does not want to move far away. He goes to Arizona State expecting not to suit up. Coach Shawn Charles (Don Cheadle), for one, does not think Anthony has the stomach to be a walk-on. There are battles and suffering that Anthony has to go through. So, Anthony knows what is on the line and explains that his aim is to ensure that people do not first see him as a man who has just one leg.
The sports scenes are more effective. Cheadle does an excellent job in which he directs the coach to be sharp and even domineering, although when compassion or failure becomes required, he’s great. Anthony is rather quiet and endures a lot of his moments, and Jerome has the right facial and eye movements to do the trick. There is nice one when Anthony moves so well that other teams begin to complain that there is an unfair threshold of having only one leg and less weight to rely on compared to the two-legged contestants, thus allowing him to remain in the lower weight class. There is a ‘Rudy’ sort of scene when his teammates come to his aid and somehow a ‘wax on, wax off’ sort of scene when he has to wash down the airplanes and that develops his strength and staying power.
What was expected of Anthony that he would last on the mat with barely any opponents, he did exactly the opposite of that and it was equally surprising. If this film would rather set aside our expectations, it does that with a truthfulness that wins it by the narrowest of margins.
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