Starring Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, David Strathairn, Ian McShane, January Jones, Kate Mara Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty
Written By: Jamie Linden, Cory Helms
Directed By: McG
Studio: Warner Brothers
Buy on Amazon.com link

Football is one of America’s biggest past times, and most towns are huge supporters of their local college and high school teams. For one West Virginia town, Tragedy struck their beloved football team when a plane crash took out the entire team and coaching staff of Marshall University’s college football team. Struggling to move on, the University gets Coach Jack Lengyel (M.McConaughey)to join and go out recruiting to lead the new squad. Only a few members remain, and they unite to try to do the unthinkable. Get an entire new team and coaching staff together and try and lead the thundering herd back to the field after such an awful accident. Uplifting and yet another great football movie, We Are Marshall is a compelling story of determination, honor, and respect.

Jack Lengyel was just a football coach. Recruited by the school’s president, Marshall University was in dire needs of a coaching staff and a football team. Ready to shelve the entire program, two remaining players fought to keep the football program alive. That all started with Jack Lengyel. An energetic and inspiring coach that was prepared to do anything to take the reins of Marshall University’s football squad. What was an even tougher task was convincing players to join the team after such a horrific plane crash and a bigger university in West Virginia vying for big name players. Eventually Lengyel convinces a former coach from Marshall, Red Dawson to join the team again as Defensive coordinator. Together they push for every athlete in the area and across country to try and join Marshall. Eventually they get an exception with NCAA that they can use Freshmen on the teams and that is what the team ends up comprising. Lengyel is a very encouraging coach but he has got his hands full with a group of inexperienced athletes that are in charge of trying to bring another winning football team to a town that has lost so much so far.

Matthew McConaughey is great as Jack Lengyel. Extremely motivated and very knowledgeable of the game, Lengyel can be odd at times too which was fun to watch. Matthew Fox turns in another good performance as emotional Red Dawson. The coach that should have gotten on the plane but switched with another coach prior to take off. I think he felt he owed the team that perished another run at coaching for the team a year of service in honor of them. The players didn’t have too many stand out players but a few of the teammates that did not make the flight from the original team, were pretty impressive in their roles. I was pretty moved at the story as it was based on true events and how tragic it must have been for everyone involved. The characters were interesting and the story grabbed me immediately.

Overall, We Are Marshall is another entertaining and movie story with great football action thrown in. The cast and directing were strong as well. Extras on the DVD were minimal. Only only featurette and the trailer were included. Nothing exciting really. Maybe a little bit more features would have been nice.

Features:
-Legendary Coaches: How Coaches Overcome Adversity
-Theatrical Trailer

Audio:
-ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 CC
-FRENCH: Dolby Digital 5.1

Video:
-Widescreen 2.40:1 Color (Anamorphic)

Subtitles:
English, Spanish, French

Favorite Scenes: Aftermath, Recruiting, First Game back, First Win
Rating: PG
Running Time: 131 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: