Ben Affleck plays a basketball coach in his latest film, The Way Back, and I admit I did not see him playing a basketball coach. I’ve loved him in a lot of movies. Even credit him as playing one of the better Bruce Wayne/Batman’s. The Town is by far my favorite Ben Affleck movie. This film completely surprised me in a good way. For anybody who thinks that Ben Affleck is not a good actor, I would say they’re flat out wrong, sometimes it just takes the right script and this movie certainly highlights one of Ben Affleck’s better performances. It may not be the best basketball sports movie, but his performance is really good and this is why you should see it.
The story is about a former basketball phenom who ends up giving up basketball to work a manual labor job. After years away from the game is asked to come back and coach his former high school team which hasn’t made the playoffs since he last played. However this story is not just about basketball, it’s about loss and regret, and conquering one’s inner demons. Ben’s character has a tragic past and he has to overcome a lot not only to inspire his team, but to change his life for the banner. That’s the plot and while it may not be a unique plot when it comes to sports movies, the best part of the movie is Ben Affleck’s performance, especially as the basketball coach. I won’t go into detail about everything his character faces especially his alcoholism, But it is an inspiring story marked by great performances. His character is simply the everyman for which we can relate to and while his character as a coach may not have as many great speeches compared to Gene Hackman or even Samuel L. Jackson as a basketball coach, he’s inspiring, nonetheless. I will admit that I’ve seen better basketball movies and yes, it’s hard to top movies like Hoosiers or Coach Carter, but this is still a great movie and worth watching. The basketball scenes are great and intense. There are a lot of great emotional scenes that can bring tears to your eyes especially the main character dealing with addiction.
It’s not a perfect movie and like I said it’s not even the best basketball movie. My criticism for the movie is that plot and themes within the movie are not unique. At times the film does feel like them big cliche, but that’s also a lot of movies. Sports movies are filled with a lot of cliches because The big theme in any sports movie is overcoming obstacles in order to be a winner, whether it’s the underdog team beating the championship team or overcoming personal struggles to become the best person you are meant to be. There are a lot of important conversations that get glossed over with the main character at the end as he is overcoming addiction and his personal struggles that I think would have been important to the film, but it still doesn’t take away from a wonderful story. This is still a movie worth watching. Ben Affleck does a great job carrying the movie as well as the great performance is by the kids on the basketball team.
There’s a lot of great comedic moments, but a lot of heartwarming scenes that make you feel good in the end. After all, this is a typical feel-good sports movie and wonderfully highlights the themes of addiction to give us a really good story. As I said before I never saw Ben Affleck playing a coach, but then again, I never saw him being a good Batman or Bruce Wayne and I was wrong just like I was wrong to think he couldn’t play an inspiring coach. The Way Back is definitely worth checking out. Directed by Gavin O’Connor who’s given us such great movies as Warrior and Ben Affleck’s the Accountant. He always knows how to tell a good story and this film is no different. If you don’t get a chance to see it in theaters, definitely rent the movie when it’s on digital!
