Warrior Strong movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Warrior Strong

This underdog sports flick is now available to stream on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Prime, and Vudu.

RATING: PG-13

LENGTH: 1 hour 38 minutes

MOVIE REVIEW MOM GRADE: C+

IN A NUTSHELL:

It follows Bilal Irving, who is asked to be the assistant coach of his former high school team. Bilal learns that true coaching involves far more than simply teaching the game.

This movie is directed by Shane Belcourt and written by Dan Gordon

THINGS I LIKED:

The cast includes Andrew Dice Clay, Jordan Johnson-Hinds, Sarah Podemski, Raoul Bhaneja, Rosa Blasi, Julian Young, and more.
It made me laugh when Andrew Dice Clay’s character looked in the mirror, shook his head, and said, “No!” Yep, brother…me too.
More than a lot of sports movies like this, you’ll actually learn some strategy behind the sport.
I liked the talk of being in the “No Fear Zone.” We all have fears and need to believe in ourselves and just try.
Even if you’re not a huge fan of basketball, you can still enjoy this film.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

SO much of the movie is SUPER cliched. We’ve seen this story many times before.
Some viewers might not enjoy being preached at about politically correct things such as a non-binary girl playing on a boy’s team, the use of a Native-American name for the basketball team, Chinese sports, or an immigrant coming to the USA from Haiti.
Some of the cast members definitely don’t look like high school kids.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Some profanity
One of the characters is non-binary, so there is a lot of talk that she is a “they” and can play basketball on the boy’s team.
Some characters have anger management problems.
Bullying
Teamwork
A man has 2 heart attacks
Some French is spoken without subtitles, although we’re told what they’re saying.

THEMES:

Being willing to change
Belonging and acceptance
Fear
Redemption
High school basketball
Coaching and leadership
Racism
Gender identity
Attitude of entitlement
Choices and accountability
Caring about things and people more than just yourself

FUNNY LINES:

“Are you one of those Spectrum kids?” – Bilal Irving (Jordan Johnson-Hinds)

INTERESTING LINES:

“Shooting wins.” – Bilal Irving (Jordan Johnson-Hinds)
“Things have changed. You haven’t. You need to grow and move on.” – Bilal Irving (Jordan Johnson-Hinds)
“Life’s about choices.” – Avery Schmidt (Andrew Dice Clay)