Plot Summary
Brandon Burlsworth always wanted to play football at the top college level, but he was always told he was never cut out for the sport due to his size problems. However, Brandon defied all odds by adapting a strong work ethic that helped him train to become fit to walk-on and play SEC football at the University of Arkansas. His life affected all of those around him as he made the football team better with his faith and his work ethic.
Production Quality (2.5 points)
Greater is clearly a well-funded production as it is very professional. Video quality, camera work, and audio quality are all what they should be. The action sports scenes are filmed very well, and the sports props are highly realistic. The soundtrack is adequate, and sets and locations are great. The only small nitpicks to raise here pertain to some small editing issues, such as some lagging scenes and seemingly unnecessary content. Otherwise, however, this production is top-notch and checks all the right boxes.
Plot and Storyline Quality (1 point)
While this film is based on a great true story, there is a lot of content that is covered in this plot. Thus, character development suffers as the characters tend to only be pawns in the storyline. The dialogue primarily serves to move time forward rather than to develop the characters as people. There are also a lot of typical sports clichés and training montages. With so much content to handle in one film, there are too many wasted sequences like this that could have been used to build the characters. However, not all is bad here as this is a great story to tell with a worthwhile message. Moreover, it had a lot going for it and definitely could have been better.
Acting Quality (3 points)
The acting is perhaps the strongest section of this film. This is a very professional cast with no glaring errors committed. Emotions are believable and realistic, and line delivery is on point. In the end, this section brings this movie close to the fullest potential it could have had.
Conclusion
Greater had many key elements and advantages in its corner, but it didn’t quite get the job done. I can help but think that in different hands, this film would have been a Hall of Fame epic. With some slightly deeper characters and dialogue, along with a less choppy presentation, it would have breached the Hall of Fame threshold. Nonetheless, this is an enjoyable film that many audiences will enjoy.
Final Rating: 6.5 out of 10 points
Box Office Revolution 