 | 映画原題: Annapolis [ 映画邦題: アナポリス] : 話題注目作劇場公開映画 |  | |  |  | |  | Annapolis : Hollywood Cinema Director : シネマ作品監督紹介 | | Annapolis : Actor [CAST・CREW] : アクター・アクトレス(男優・女優・声優)&ミュージシャン・アーティスト紹介 | | Annapolis : 現地ハリウッド市民の評価 : 英語批評版 : Native Evaluation |  |  |  |  |  Annapolis / 2006-02-02
What begins as an intelligent, well-written, character-driven military drama gradually descends into the firey pits of cliche hell during its second half. Viewers of "Annapolis" will most likely be students of "An Officer and a Gentleman," one of the greatest military films ever made, in which a Naval academy enrollee faced his over-aggressive drill instructor in a battle of wills. That film, as it progressed from scene to scene, become a powerful experience in its own way, if only marginally so. "Annapolis" works in a similar way during its first half, dealing a deck of raw emotional power and a sincere study of its characters. And then, without warning, it falls from grace into one of the first most unoriginal films of 2006.
To say that "Annapolis" is an example of how not to make an effective military drama is to say that the Atlantic Ocean is damp. Considering everything that happens, what the characters go through and how they change, where the characters end up, and what they do or do not accomplish, the film is essentially a half-drawn journey to a very poor destination. There are no surprises, save for perhaps one, and no sudden twists that grab the audience by surprise. If you take away the aspects of the Naval Academy, it is about a young man named Jake Huard (James Franco) who wants to win the favor of his father.
Huard works alongside his buddies in a shipyard across the bay from the Annapolis Naval Academy. An aimless young man who is at odds with his father, he has always wanted to attend the Academy and serve his country as an officer in the United States Navy, and one day, out of the blue, he is given a letter of acceptance. Upon arrival, he meets and makes friends with his three roommates, the overweight Twins (Vicellous Reon Shannon), the rule abiding Loo (Roger Fan), and the abrasive, cocky Estrada (Wilmer Calderon).
Somehow, he also manages to develop a relationship with one of his commanding officers, the beautiful Ali (Jordanna Brewster), whom he approached the night before his departure in a bar, thinking that she was a hooker. He also butts heads with his fierce commanding officer, Cole (Tyrease Gibson), an aggressive boulder on loan to the Navy from the Marines. The relationships between these characters are just as well-written as one would anticipate, and they are all very well-acted.
All was going well until the second half of the film began, in which I leaned forward in my chair and rubbed my eyes in disbelief. "Annapolis" is a boxing movie. Jake was an amateur boxer before he came to the Academy, and he is given a shot at participating in the Brigades, a tournament in which the enrollees get to fight one another. At first, Jake struggles for entry under the boxing teacher, Coach McNally (Chi McBride), but, unsurprisingly, he becomes one of the best fighters at the school. Under the support of sexy Ali, Jake battles his way through the tournament, with the championship match against the hard-hitting Cole at the end of the tunnel.
By the time the film was over, I wanted to do very bad things to the script, or at least the second half of the script. The film ends in 2008, which means that Jake must be entering the Academy right now or a couple of years ago, which means that we would be in a war on terrorism, which means that a boxing tournament would not be on Jake's mind. Instead of depicting Jakes journey through training at the Academy, his battle of wills with Cole, and his progression to taking command of a ship in the war on terrorism, "Annapolis" decides to place its characters in the ring, with the hero facing hardships during fights and outside of them, all the way up to the big championship match.
Exactly how Ali can get away with kissing one of her trainees is beyond me, but the film is apparently too lopsided to pay attention to detail. And just because the commanding officer is aggressive does not mean that we should hate him and despise him. In "Annapolis" he is just as tough as you would preceive him to be, and is therefore not a credible villain even if we are rooting for Jake.
While James Franco does a terrific job, there are only two perfect performances in the film: Vicellous Reon Shannon as Twins and Tyrease Gibson as Cole. Twins is probably the best character in the movie, better than Jake, and is given the most emotional depth. The scenes involving him, his story, and his fate are well thought out, and his relationship with Jake manages to push the film in a better direction, if only marginally so. Tyrease Gibson is perfect as the tough commanding officer. For at least a little while, the film plays like a version of "Crimson Tide" on land, with Jake and Cole duking it out.
The film should have stayed in that direction, but it didn't. If the first half of the film hadn't been so good, had it not brought forth the setup and character development that it did, then everything would have been sunk in the water. "Annapolis" is so intersting for the first act and then becomes riddled with cliches and eventually runs out of gas. Before we leave the theater, we find ourselves watching a totally different movie, and wondering why we bothered with it in the first place. - Isaac
Rated PG-13; 106 minutes; Directed by Justin Lin |  |  |  |  | | | | | | | |  Serviceable / 2006-01-30
I went to see this movie because I have a fondness and deep interest in military colleges. 'A Sense of Honor' by James Webb (a fictional account of Annapolis in the 1960's) is one of my all time favorite books. Though my interest in military colleges has waned over the years it has by no means completely dissipated. And when I heard of this movie I made sure to see it on opening day.
The movie seems to be less about life at the Academy than it is as a lesson about not giving up on yourself. Some of the things I found notable is that for one the film wasn't shot at the school, it was shot in Philadelphia. And has been mentioned before why Jordana Brewster's character didn't get in trouble for the amount of time she spent 'fraternizing' with a male plebe is beyond me. And how the 'Twins' character made it that far in the year by being so heavy is also surprising. Annapolis is one of the most elite universities in the US, would the Academy really have gone out of their way to recruit a poor student, even if he was a boxer?
The film basically is no different than the usual 'fish out of water' story we have seen a million times. But what made this bearable was the fact that the character Huard didn't act out because he was rebellious. But more so out of poor self-esteem. As a working class boy in his heart he did not believe that he did not belong there. However as the film went on, it was nice to see his confidence build. I also liked the friendship with Twins, the two young men really supported each other very well.
I am not a big fan of Tyreese Gibson. But he really shinned in this role as the tight no-nonsense first class-man. It was a marked change from the "home-boy/street thug" roles he normally is cast into.
I thought that while the film was very weak it was also very inspirational.
| | | | | | | | | | | |  Racist & Biased / 2006-01-29
Initially I went to see this movie because I am a HUGE fan of Tyrese Gibson. I think he is a great actor and sexy! But watching the movie, I was disappointed to find that Tyrese's looks or acting could not overpower the racism I saw left and right through this movie. Every African-American character was weak: they were either extremely insensitive, physically weak, or didn't have many lines. The Latino character was stereotyped as a womanizer who smelled and wore too much cologne. The Asian character was a suck-up who found it fun to get people in trouble and felt being a trader was the best route to go.
The movie was basically about a young man who joined the Navy to keep a promise to his mother. He is a boxer and when given the opportunity to box in the ring with one of the superior offices, he takes that chance. The thing that I don't like about this movie (besides the previously mentioned points) is that one of the superior officers was blatantly racist to the African-American physically weak man as well as the Latino man, but even though he was, somehow the movie looked over him entirely and went straight to another superior officer who did nothing even remotely mean through an hour of the movie. If someone is supposed to be the villain in the movie, the audience should see what negative actions they've done immediately. The racist officer painted himself as the villain but was perceived as a hero for helping the young man. There was a woman officer who grinned and flirted through half the movie and it amazed me that she didn't get disciplined for showing her admiration so much to the young man. If it wasn't for how the movie ended, I would've said this movie was completely racist. Although I did enjoy Tyrese's performance and the performance of the young man, this movie was disappointing. | | | | | | | | | | | | Weak script and cast to type with bad results. / 2006-01-27
Right after 9/11, Hollywood said "Yes, we will make more patirotic movies." Fat change. Now over five years later, I'm still waiting to see these movies. I think they made about four in all, that could be desribed as Patriotic, but almost none of them had to do with the military, and this movie is a real stinker of one to say the least.
There is a weak script. Almost all of the actors are type cast and look clueless in the roles. At some point, they try military talk that sounds about as phooney and film like as you can get. People in the military do not sound or talk like that. Not here or in Stealth, or in the over-rated JAG tv show that has since been cancelled.
I do not know why Hollywood can not make a good honest movie about those who serve in our armed forces and treat them in a more honest and down to Earth manner. Or for that matter come up with a good screenplay to tell the story. They did in the 1950s, when America was proud of it's armed forces and would sleep better at night knowing that our forces are doing their jobs. Needless to say, that feeling is not very commen anymore, except in older movies that were made over four decades ago. A shame. | | | | | | | | 
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