The uber geeks

Review: Annapolis on DVD

Last night I watched Annapolis which I rented during my two week trial membership for Blockbuster Online. Before last night I hadn’t heard any reviews from friends, family or even strangers about the quality or even story-line for Annapolis. The movie was quite enjoyable and the cinematography had some interesting dynamics for the action sequences but there were still a few elements that kept this movie from being great.

DVD specs

• Genre(s): drama/sport (boxing)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (widescreen)
• Rating: PG-13
• Number of discs: 1
• Movie time: 104 minutes

The movie

Annapolis centers around Jake Huard (James Franco, Spiderman 2) who works as a shipyard welder. Jake’s goal is to make it into the prestigious navel academy, conveniently located across the river, and graduate from the program. He has had a seemingly hard life with little support from his friends and familly so he really has to work hard for everything he gets, including his admission to the academy. Once Jake makes it to the academy, with some help from Lt. Commander Burton (Donnie Wahlberg, Saw II), he is forced to confront his personal problems and fall inline with the rest of the academy students.

James Franco pulls off the character of Jake quite well and it doesn’t seem forced. The supporting cast — Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Jordana Brewster, Chi McBride — also works well with the exception of Jordana Brewster. Jordana is great eye-candy for the movie and I can understand the decision to cast her. To me she seems like the only person that doesn’t fit in her role at the academy. It almost feels like they’re trying to adapt the Top Gun formula for today’s audience.

Special features

• Commentaries by: Director Justin Lin, writer David Collard
• Deleted scenes
• “Plebe Year: The Story of Annapolis” featurette
• “The Brigades” An in-depth look at how the boxing sequences were choreographed, filmed, and how the actors were trained

Final thoughts

All-in-all I enjoyed watching Annapolis. The boxing scenes were shot in an interesting style as opposed to the style of the Rocky films. A variety of dynamic close ups and wide shots work well to keep you in the middle of the action.

The story itself was simple enough, meaning it wasn’t very high concept and too much to grasp, it is a story of growth and acceptance. Everyone I know can relate to this concept. Unfortunately I didn’t find myself very emotionally invested.

There are typical and predictable points in the movie that most people will notice. Sure, anyone that watches a lot of movies can say that but a good movie will have me rooting for the predictable moment to happen instead of wanting the film to hurry up and get to the point. Annapolis was more of the later in my opinion.

In the end I would suggest adding Annapolis to your “want to see” list and if you find it on sale at Walmart, a purchase would be prudent. The movie is entertaining and quite enjoyable if you enjoy some good action — the boxing sequenses — mixed in with some drama. The cast is made up of good actors and there isn’t a lot of fluff throughout the movie.

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