By Keith Walther | Rose Law Group Reporter
Helping to kick off the start of another football season, Angel Studios brings audiences to the gridiron for this rather miraculous true story. “The Senior” portrays the remarkable inspiration that is Mike Flynt, whose age defying quest made him the talk of the nation. The production may have flaws, the acting a bit underwhelming, but the story is captivating and worth seeing on the big screen, even if you’re not a football fan.
In 2007, Mike Flynt (Michael Chiklis) had created a nice life for himself with his loving wife Eileen (Mary Stuart Masterson) and a large family of children and grandchildren. While most 59-year-olds would find contentment with this life, Mike has always had a cloud of unfinished business hanging over him. 37 years ago, he was expelled from his college, taking away his senior year of football. But what if he could go back and play that final year?
Re-enrolling in Sul Ross State University, Mike does the unthinkable and tries out for the football team, hoping for the opportunity to correct his past mistakes. He puts his aging body through the brutal rigors of a football season, encountering serious injuries that threaten to end his dream permanently. Refusing to quit, Mike looks to be an inspiration to not only his teammates, but also to his family.
Veteran filmmaker Rod Lurie (“The Contender”) directs this inspirational true story of resilience and redemption to great effect by focusing on the more dramatic elements of the tale. Rather than revealing the story through the football action like many football movies do, he tailors the scenes to focus on who Mike Flynt is as a person and a family man with football serving more as the backdrop. This enables Rod to explore the main character’s relationships with his wife, his son, and flashbacks to his troubled relationship with his father. In this way, viewers are better able to connect with this character and share relatability that makes the football sequences more impactful when they do happen.
The football action sequences are well done for the most part with Lurie using quality cinematography to capture the in-game moments realistically. He also commits to the realism of the story, depicting Flynt’s very real injuries he suffered in route to his comeback, as well as showing him in his actual ’07 position as a blocker on the kicking team rather than a more glorified position. However, Lurie does make some noticeable errors, like showing Flynt’s old college football jerseys framed and hanging on the wall in his house early in the film, only to show them on the floor later in the film as a surprise gift from his wife. This is what can happen when filming scenes out of sequence and forgetting or overlooking in post.
Michael Chiklis is a veteran actor who has been in the business since the age of thirteen, and he is the perfect choice for playing this role, both in terms of age and physical appearance. The passion he puts into this portrayal is genuine enough, but his line delivery feels hokey at times, leading to several cringe worthy moments. Ironically, when Flynt was making his historic return to the football field in 2007, Chiklis was starring in “The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” as The Thing.
Mary Suart Masterson is another veteran star who started acting even earlier than Chiklis at the age of ten in 1975. Since then, she’s appeared in nearly 60 productions in both TV and film, including her most famous works of “Fried Green Tomatoes” in 1991 and “Benny & Joon” in 1993. Playing the role of the supportive wife in “The Senior,” Mary brings that emotional glue that keeps the audience invested in the story from start to finish.
Once again Angel Studios brings a wholesome, uplifting true story to light that audiences of all ages can enjoy, particularly fathers and sons. Even though “The Senior” centers around football, you don’t have to appreciate America’s gladiatorial sport or reside in West Texas to enjoy this movie. Think of it like a 59-year-old “Rudy,” hitting with that similar underdog energy.
This movie earns:
