The Gridiron Gang opens with an ominous fact:  After they are released, 75% of the children in the juvenile corrections system will either end up back in jail or dead on the streets.  This sobering fact led real-life corrections officer Sean Porter to start a football team for the juvenile offenders that he was watching over.  This effort to reform these criminals and actually get them out of the cycle of violence that they found themselves trapped in was the subject of a 1993 documentary, (also called The Gridiron Gang) and the inspiration for this 2006 account of their first season.  While there have been a number of feel-good cheer for the underdog sports movies in the last few years, this one takes a tough look at the problems that inner city youths face.  It shows the troubles the face, but doesn't make excuses for the actions that some of them choose.   Both eye-opening and fun, this film was an unexpected delight.

Sean Porter (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson) is a correctional officer for youths at the Camp Kirkpatrick facility in California.  Tired of being little more than a babysitter to group after group of troubled teens, Porter comes up with a plan:  to field a football team with his charges.  Football teaches discipline and teamwork, something the kids could use, and it just might give the teens enough self confidence to turn away from the violent path that their lives have taken.

It's not easy though.  Even after he's fought with the administration to allow the team and fund it, he still has to convince the other area high schools to play his team.  After all, most of the coaches are very hesitant to field their boys against a group of gang bangers and violent criminals.  But Porter doesn't give up easily, and after getting a full schedule of games, he has to turn his unruly mob inot a football team.

This was a good movie, and the thing that sets it apart from the many other cheer-for-the-underdog type films is its neutral look at inner city life.  They don't paint the inmates of Camp Kirkpatrick as innocent people who just have it rough; they show the violence that is their way of life.  When the assistant coach remarks that one player is always cheerful and smiling, Porter asks "I wonder if he was smiling when he stabbed that old lady for her purse?"  On the other hand the teens aren't shown to be worthless people either.  When one player, Kenny Bates (Trever O'Brien), cries and says that he just wants his mother to say that she loves him, you realize that these kids are vulnerable and have needs too.

The film does a great job at getting the viewers on the Mustang's side and cheering for them, but it is a little bit predictable in the way that it unfolds.  In typical movie fashion after each hurdle is overcome and things are looking good, some bad news has to pop up to challenge the team.  At one point near the end when an important game has been won, you just know that some catastrophe is going to try the team once more.  This is an easy flaw to overlook though.

The most surprising thing about the movie is Dwayne Johnson.  No longer billed simply as The Rock, he did an excellent job in the movie.  This was quite different from the action roles he usually plays, and this film gave him the chance to show that he can really act.  Some of his speeches to the kids were really inspirational, and he showed a range of emotions that I wouldn't have thought he could pull off.  The man actually has some talent.

Video:

This Sony BR disc preserves the film's original aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and looks really good.  The first wave of Blu-ray discs from Sony looked really bad, but they've apparently learned from their mistakes because this movie is just wonderful to look at.  There is a superb amount of definition and detail, the colors are bright and the image is sharp.  The blacks are a little crushed but the print itself was in excellent shape with no spots or marks present.  Digitally things look just as good with the common problems of aliasing and posterization being missing from this disc.  A very good presentation.

Audio:

This film comes with an uncompressed 5.1 PCM stream as well as DD 5.1 tracks in English and French.  The  PCM track was just as impressive as the video.  You could clearly hear every hit and grunt as the players tackled each other, and the background noises really brought the games to life.  Some of the dialog during the games was a bit hard to discern, but that's undoubtedly how the creators intended it.  The fact that some of the comments that the players make to each other on the field are overwhelmed by the noise from the crowd gives a realistic touch to the movie.

Extras:

This disc features the same bonus material that the standard definition disc has.  First up is a commentary track by director Phil Joanou and screenwriter Jeff Maguire.  This was a bit dry for my tastes though I've heard worse.  There are also 15 deleted scenes (presented in HD) that run about 23 minutes in total. These were fun to watch but didn't add much to the film.  The three featurettes, Football Training, Phil Joanou Profile, and The Rock Takes the Field, were typical Hollywood fluff.  The extras are rounded out by a multi-angle football scene and a series of trailers.

Final Thoughts:

The Girdiron Gang is a much better movie than I was expecting.  It avoids painting the problems of urban youths in simple terms but delivers an uplifting message.  The film is fun and engaging, and Dwayne Johnson gives an excellent performance.  The BD makes the movie look and sound fantastic, making this an easy disc to recommend.