To most football players, the "option" is a running play. For the teens incarcerated at Camp Kilpatrick, the option is death on the streets or jail.
"Gridiron Gang" opens with the sobering statistic that 120,000 minors are locked up in America at any given time, and 75 percent typically return to lockup or die. Counselors do their best to set the kids straight, but lectures can only go so far. Some lessons of discipline, respect and self-worth are best taught through athletics.
The Rock stars as a detention-camp probation officer who whips a team of young thugs into a dynamic force on the football field. His kids have been told they are losers all their lives, but they discover in the trenches what it takes to succeed.
The tale is not a twist on "The Longest Yard," but a true story based on a 1993 documentary of the same title. "Gridiron Gang" tracks the efforts of coaches Sean Porter and Malcolm Moore (Xzibit), who formed a team of inmates to compete against area high schools in 1990.
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Director Phil Joanou shot on location at Camp Kilpatrick in Malibu, Calif., and used several former players as extras in the movie. He also helped teach filmmaking classes to inmates during the shoot.
The Rock, a college football player back when he was known as Dwayne Johnson, fills Porter's coach shorts with authority, earning the kids' attention via bellowing speeches and exhausting drills.
The detention center's leaders are suspicious of Porter's plans, but the coach is a driven visionary. Porter's rebellion against uncaring authority is one of the many clichés that huddle around the film. Porter also has a dying mother, and he struggles to overcome daddy issues. The players have similarly predictable stories — the angry ruffian, the bully who overcompensates for his fear, and the cocky introvert.
The film is sloppily executed and about a half-hour too long, but darned if it doesn't thrill you with last-second finishes and heart-rending scenes in which outcasts see the light and buy into the team spirit.
"Gridiron Gang" is all formula, but it's tough to blame the film for sticking with a game plan that works.
Phil's review
Gridiron Gang
**1/2
Rated: PG-13 for some startling scenes of violence, mature thematic material and language
Cast: The Rock, Xzibit, Jade Yorker, Setu Taase
Director: Phil Joanou
Family call: A few violent scenes aren't suitable for young kids.
Running time: 120 minutes
Opens Friday at: Park Place, El Con, Century Park, Foothills, DeAnza, Desert Sky, Uptown
