About the film (courtesy of STX Entertainment):
Three days before the college football national championship game, star quarterback LeMarcus James (Stephan James) and teammate Emmett Sunday (Alexander Ludwig) ignite a player’s strike declaring they won’t compete until all student-athletes are fairly compensated. With billions of dollars at risk and legacies on the line, the stakes could not be higher. Now, with only hours until kickoff, the head coach (J.K. Simmons) and various power brokers must race against the clock to protect or destroy the prevailing collegiate athletics system.
You have to give STX Entertainment having the stones for picking up and releasing a film like National Champions right when the NCAA College Football Playoff coverage is nearing its apex. Concussion (2015), starring Will Smith, brought some of the NFL’s dirtiest little secrets back into the spotlight, but to a wider audience base, not just lovers of football, and restarted conversations about the deadly implications of the extreme violence that occurred on the field and their long term health risks to the players. Could Ric Roman Waugh’s sports drama spawn similar conversations?
National Champions pulls no punches and doesn’t hold back in its relentless narrative of system that hemorrhages profits while not equally, or in some cases not at all, sharing its bountiful cash surplus with the student athletes that fuel their money machine. Stephan James brings fire to portrayal of a college player that is willing to put a huge payday on the line in order to fight for a cause that means more to him that anyone could possibly imagine. His performance as such should be well-received as he puts all out there for everyone to see.
J.K. Simmons gives a performance similar to, but not quite as intense as, his Oscar-winning supporting role in Whiplash (2014). There is no ignoring the emotional intensity that he brings with him. Alexander Ludwig, Lil Rel Howery, Tim Blake Nelson, Andrew Bachelor, David Koechner and Kristin Chenoweth are also good in there work. Uzo Aduba steals the scene more than once with her charged, raw emotional prowess. So to say that these actors did a fine job in what has been asked of them would be as accurate as a Tom Brady touchdown pass in the Super Bowl.
National Champions actually has very little football in it, so don’t be deterred if you’re not a fan of football. The message that Ric Roman Waugh and writer Adam Mervis are attempting to convey is very much worth the two hour sit-down. This film will invoke feelings of anger, sadness, outrage and disappointment. And there aren’t many “feel good” moments throughout. That being said, this approach is needed in order to get its message across effectively.
The darker tone combined with the intense closeups and quick camera cutaways seem to ramp the feel up even more as you begin to realize just how serious of situation this is. National Champions may give you a reason to pause and rethink how you feel about collegiate sports as whole. Well, at least for a bit until we’re all seduced by the shiny objects and fun that it always brings.
I recommend taking the time to sit down and really watch National Champions while processing its message. It’s worth your time. You can see it in theaters right now.
