Spike Lee sure knows how to get in his own way sometimes. "He Got Game" was an excellent premise exploring an interesting topic, but Spike Lee Spike Leed it up.
The movie is about a high school senior named Jesus Shuttlesworth (Ray Allen) who has yet to commit to a university for basketball. He's the number one high school player in the country and the whole world is waiting to hear to whom he will commit, and countless hangers-on have their hands on him trying to tug him one way or the other. On top of all of his people trying to make a dollar off of him, his father comes back into his life with a request as well.
Jake Shuttlesworth (Denzel Washington) has been informed by the warden at Attica that if he gets his son to commit to Big State U, the governor will reduce his prison sentence. He has one week to do it, so for a week he is let out of prison to try to convince his son, Jesus, to sign a letter of intent for Big State. There's only one problem: his son hates his guts because he's responsible for his mother's death.
The movie had the potential to be fantastic if Spike didn't have that overbearing music killing just about every important scene. Whatever symphony he hired, or sound engineer, trampled all over important scenes. The music was either too loud, inappropriate for the mood, or both. There were significant conversations happening and I got loud instruments drowning out the dialog. Even when there weren't conversations happening, there would be a portentous scene that was ruined by the ill-fitting music.
Another flaw that I can attribute to Spike, because he was the writer, was the charge against Jake Shuttlesworth. He was convicted of murdering his wife Martha (Lonette McKee). The problem is that when there was a flashback scene it showed Jake pushing Martha, who then hit her head on the counter and died. It was clear that, while he intentionally pushed her, he was simply getting her off of him. The man was in a rage to be sure, but murder implies intent, and there was no intent there. So, for him to get a murder charge for accidentally killing his wife means either A.) he had a horrible lawyer, B.) the laws of New York are extremely punitive, or C.) Spike wanted to create the illusion that Jake was a killer until we found out otherwise.
"He Got Game" was, after my criticisms, a good movie. I can only imagine the pressure that young blue chip athletes are under. It's easy to look at them from afar and envy them for their talents or hate them for being paid a king's ransom to play a child's game. A movie like "He Got Game" gives a human side to the pro athletes most of us only see on T.V.
The movie is about a high school senior named Jesus Shuttlesworth (Ray Allen) who has yet to commit to a university for basketball. He's the number one high school player in the country and the whole world is waiting to hear to whom he will commit, and countless hangers-on have their hands on him trying to tug him one way or the other. On top of all of his people trying to make a dollar off of him, his father comes back into his life with a request as well.
Jake Shuttlesworth (Denzel Washington) has been informed by the warden at Attica that if he gets his son to commit to Big State U, the governor will reduce his prison sentence. He has one week to do it, so for a week he is let out of prison to try to convince his son, Jesus, to sign a letter of intent for Big State. There's only one problem: his son hates his guts because he's responsible for his mother's death.
The movie had the potential to be fantastic if Spike didn't have that overbearing music killing just about every important scene. Whatever symphony he hired, or sound engineer, trampled all over important scenes. The music was either too loud, inappropriate for the mood, or both. There were significant conversations happening and I got loud instruments drowning out the dialog. Even when there weren't conversations happening, there would be a portentous scene that was ruined by the ill-fitting music.
Another flaw that I can attribute to Spike, because he was the writer, was the charge against Jake Shuttlesworth. He was convicted of murdering his wife Martha (Lonette McKee). The problem is that when there was a flashback scene it showed Jake pushing Martha, who then hit her head on the counter and died. It was clear that, while he intentionally pushed her, he was simply getting her off of him. The man was in a rage to be sure, but murder implies intent, and there was no intent there. So, for him to get a murder charge for accidentally killing his wife means either A.) he had a horrible lawyer, B.) the laws of New York are extremely punitive, or C.) Spike wanted to create the illusion that Jake was a killer until we found out otherwise.
"He Got Game" was, after my criticisms, a good movie. I can only imagine the pressure that young blue chip athletes are under. It's easy to look at them from afar and envy them for their talents or hate them for being paid a king's ransom to play a child's game. A movie like "He Got Game" gives a human side to the pro athletes most of us only see on T.V.