Review – Race

Before even seeing Race, it already had a couple things going against it.  The first is that, even though it is a sports movie, it isn’t about basketball or football or one of the major, more exciting sports.  It is about track and field, a sport people only care about every four years.  The second thing is that we know the ending already because it is one of the most historic moments in Olympic and U.S. history.

But, despite this, Race ends up being a rousing and fascinating sports biopic about one of the greatest American athletes of all-time.

Race tells the story of Jesse Owens (Stephan James), a track and field all-star at Ohio State who represented the United States at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin at the height of the Nazi regime.  The film focuses on Owens’ relationship with his coach Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis), his family, and the struggles he has on and off the track, as he deals with racism and the pressure of beating the Nazis.

One of the things Race does better than most sports biopics is that it gives us an actual protagonist.  In other sports biopics similar to Race, like Hoosiers (1986), Remember the Titans (2000), and Miracle (2004), majority of the focus is on the team and the coach and we get some exposition of brief scenes of the opponent they will eventually play at the end.  Race actually takes us into the Nazi regime, showing us Nazi leaders Joseph Goebbels and Leni Riefenstahl and how the two of them wanted to use the Olympics as Nazi propaganda and how the events before and during the Olympics effected the entire party.  This added a whole new layer to the story and is also a pretty cool history lesson about Nazi propaganda.

Stephan James is perfect as Owens.  He doesn’t look anything like the Olympian, but you buy into his performance.  He has the physicality and adds the drama and intensity when the pressure comes crashing down on Owens’ life.  Usually funnyman Jason Sudeikis does his most dramatic work to date and does a surprisingly great job as the alcoholic and tormented coach.  And we get acting heavyweights in Jeremy Irons and William Hurt, who are always a pleasure to watch on screen and know how to give a great monologue.

I’m not going to rank Race as an all-time great sports biopic (you can find that list right here), but it is a very satisfying film.  The races are exciting, the performances are good, and the story is legendary.  The best reason to see this movie, and the part I enjoyed the most, is for the great history lesson of a great American hero and moment and Nazi propaganda.

MY RATING – 3/4

Are you going to see Race this weekend?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter @kevflix or on the Facebook page, Kevflix.