Crooked Arrows (2012)

To the guy who say's it a remake? C'mon... think of all the differences.Gordon misses the big shot for real... but Joe misses on purpose - Gordon gives up hockey and becomes a lawyer... Joe gives up LaCrosse and becomes a Casino Manager - Gordon is doing community service... Joe is just pressured into it. - Gordon shows up for the first couple of practices in a suit, talking on his "car phone"... Joe shows up in a suit and talks on his cell phone. - Gordon gets inspiration to turn it around from old hockey store dude.. Joe gets inspiration from old Indian dude. - Gordon gets his boss to sponsor and gets new equipment... Joe buys the new equipment himself. - The Ducks change their name and logo because of sponsorship... the crooked arrows change theirs because they want to. - Gordon recruits the big scary kid from the alley... Joe recruits his from the forest. - Gordon recruits his best player from another team... Joe just has to convince his best player to play. - Gordon takes his kids to a North Star practice for motivation... Joe takes his on a vision quest. - The duck kids fly through the skyway on roller blades... crooked arrow dudes fly through the forest and there is no roller blades involved. - Gordon's love interest with the players mom is new... Joe already had dated the players mom he falls for. - Gordon's falling out with the team involves players leaving... Joe's falling out involves him leaving. - Gordon quits his job for the sake of the team... Joe just screws over a developer. - Gordon's former team they faces in the championship still has his old coach... Joes former team they face in the championship game does not. - Gordon's former team are called "cake-eaters" by his team because they are rich kids... Joe's former team are not called "cake-eaters" even though they are also rich kids. - Gordon's best player gets hurt due to cheap shot in the big game and doesn't come back... Joe's best player gets hurt due to cheap shot and comes back for the final 20 seconds. - Gordon's captain that makes the big shot against his former team that he missed is the son of his love interest... Joe's captain that makes the big shot against his former team that he missed... is "not" the son of his love interest. The differences are staggering... why one would even see similarity is beyond me.

Plain and simple...if you like the underdog sports films (Rocky, Miracle, Friday Night Lights etc etc etc) then you will love this. If you don't care for them then you won't. The film is very formulaic, it is practically lifted right from The Mighty Ducks scripts. I'm not saying this makes it bad, I simply am using it to explain to readers why they will or will not like it. Now as many reviewers have said, the thing that sets Crooked Arrows apart from those other films is they fascinating use of Native American culture. Now whether or not the information they show is factual, I don't know. I hope that it is because I don't think Native American culture is often explored in film especially to this end. The characters are good, although perhaps slightly one dimensional without any one of them standing out. Good direction and sports cinematography leaves you cheering for the time and will still make you feel good in the end. Is it unique? No far from it. Does that make it less enjoyable? Nope not at all. Crooked Arrows is a feel good sports film like any other.I like Brandon Routh a lot. He might not be a leading man and say what you will but he was a great Superman, loved him in Chuck and he does a solid job in the lead role in this film. We all know the character, a jaded, power hungry, rising company star who for whatever reason finds himself forced to return to his roots and find himself in the process. He pulls it off and he's likable and you will root for him. Gil Birmingham does a good as Routh's father and one of the tribal leaders. His role is understated but significant. The beautiful Chelsea Ricketts gives perhaps one of the best performances of the film as the strong willed, sassy Nadie. She is fun and outspoken and just a terrific female lead. Crystal Allen is supposed to be the female romantic lead for Routh's character but she is incredibly underused and the chemistry between them is only slightly sufficient. She is heavily wasted in the film. Michael Hudson plays Reed, probably the most significant character on the team. Him and Rickett's have great chemistry and banter and they should have done more of the romance based on the two of them then Routh and Allen. The rest of the members on the team all play their roles well but they just don't get any opportunity to stand out.Director Steve Rash isn't exactly a first rate director and yet he has had his share of experience and it hasn't all been bad. He does small little cute teen romantic comedies decently well. He brings that style to Crooked Arrows and it works. The reviews for Crooked Arrows all say the same...it is clichéd and it is, there is no doubt about it. But there is certain a niche in the demographic for this type of sport's film and the fact that Lacrosse is a huge major sport that as far as I know has never been done on film and then Native American angle keeps this unique enough to be enjoyable. It won't ever be an award winner but that doesn't make it perfectly entertaining. 8/10

"Crooked Arrows" is one of those movies that even if you know almost nothing about the sport of Lacrosse you get involved in the game so much so that you might just find yourself yelling at the screen and that is part of "The Formula" that works so very well for movies about sports.BUT If you start watching this movie thinking that "The Formula" is all there is to it, get prepared for a BIG Wake-up call.This movie has managed to twist Native culture, Traditions, History and even Language all together so expertly that you are not only being entertained but being educated at the same time.Saying that this movie is an emotional roller coaster would be akin to saying that Tecumseh was a great warrior. Both are major understatements.I'm not going to give anything away here because I really believe that potential viewers should just watch and ENJOY this movie from start to finish without knowing more than what is in the synopsis.Probably the biggest compliment I can pay the movie is by saying, "I'm Dave Furlotte and I'm a Crooked Arrow."

"Crooked Arrows" breaks no new ground in plucky underdog sports movies, but does offer a sweet, mostly clean alternative to some of the current theater offerings. It's rated PG-13, but has no graphic sex scenes, contains a positive message, and even a non-lacrosse fan like this one, found the games edge-of-your-seat intense. It does offer proof that sports movie clichés stay the same regardless of the ethnicity of the underdogs, but no film's perfect.Brandon Routh plays the reluctant coach of the Jackpots (later Crooked Arrows) a ragtag public high school lacrosse team made of mostly Native Americans. He's also responsible for negotiating a land deal with a shady white guy, and is regarded by most his tribe, as a sell-out. Tensions come to a head when his dad opposes selling the land, and the council decides that dad gets to stipulate what Routh must do in return. The team is sufficiently pugnacious (they start a brawl after losing to a snooty prep school), but they need a coach who can channel their aggression and boost their confidence enough to be serious contenders. Also, they need much better equipment, which to the movie's credit, is dealt with openly.The players break down into recognizable types: the goofy, fat kid; the insanely talented guy who needs to learn to be a team player; the spunky tomboy who's got more cojones than all her teammates put together, etc. The opposing coach who coached the teenaged Logan, is blond, scowly and borderline psychotic - and at one point, in perhaps a nod to The Karate Kid, bellows, "No mercy!" from the sidelines during a game. Unsurprisingly, the team will learn valuable lessons in life, and the coach will also grow as a person. As a Mr. Miyagi-like mentor figure puts it, there's a reason lacrosse is called "the Medicine Game."