The Express: A Ride Worth the Ticket Price

So I have to admit, I walked into the theater for this one with low expectations. I mean, there has been more sports films with African Americans overcoming discrimination than you can probably count on your two hands in the past couple of years. Seeing the trailer for this movie, I was thinking to myself, “here goes another one.”

I was surprisingly wrong with this idea though. You know that saying, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” Well, the Express is surely representative of this saying. The Express is able to use a recycled format with fresh additions to make this another sports movie worth watching, and probably even worth purchasing to add to your collection of inspirational films.

The Express is a movie depicting the college football career of Ernie Davis, the first African American Heisman trophy winner. Ernie Davis goes to Syracuse University where he replaces the legendary Jim Brown (former Syracuse running back) to become the next great running back and also to help the team win their first National Championship. While facing racial discrimination on and off the football field, Ernie Davis must strive to not only be the best football player he can be, but also the best role model he can be for his people.

With a combination of great acting, and great football sequences in the film, the story about Ernie Davis will keep audiences’ attention the entire length of the film.

What makes the film so damn intriguing to me is its great depiction of football. The way director Gary Fleder films the football sequences makes it seem as if you’re a referee or one of the players on the field viewing the game up close and personal. While many sports films only show snippets of many games throughout a team’s season, The Express not only shows snippets of each game in Syracuse’s National Championship season, but also puts a lot of emphasis on the two big games played that year (West Virginia and Texas). These two games are portrayed beautifully, making audiences feel as if they’re watching the games play by play from the beginning of the 1st quarter to the last couple of seconds of the fourth quarter. This allows the audience to connect with the team and the obstacles they face even more than most sports films.

Besides the football seasons, the story of Ernie Davis’ struggles as an African American is portrayed excellently. The acting is superb, and causes everything to seem very realistic. The pacing of the story is also done very well. There is never really a time where the film seems to drag except towards the end. This can easily be overlooked though because the dragging of the story near the end is actually for an important reason.

Overall, The Express is a very good film. It doesn't really bring anything innovative to the sports film genre, but almost anyone can get something enjoyable out of this movie; Sports fanatics, mothers, children, and all of the above. This is a sports film definitely worth checking out.

Grade: B+