If you’re going to call a movie “Annapolis,” and set it within the fabled Naval Academy, you might think that some information about the traditions and meaning of the place would be appropriate.
But this has been left out, like much else. This insipid movie is a patchwork of ideas stolen from other films and images borrowed from car commercials. Give it a wide berth.
James Franco, a heretofore promising actor (he’s also saddled with “Tristan &Isolde” this month), plays the hero from the poor side of town. His dream of attending the Naval Academy comes true, and he’s thrown into school with little advance notice.
What follows for a half hour is absolutely by-the-numbers, treading closely in the footsteps of “An Officer and a Gentleman” and “Top Gun” but also every other training-camp movie ever made.
Let’s tick off the cliches. Franco must prove his mettle against expectations. The guys in his racially balanced unit bicker amongst themselves. He meets a foxy officer (the remarkably inexpressive Jordana Brewster, who has an excellent tan for Maryland in the dead of winter) but can’t romance her because of rules against fraternization.
There’s the roommate destined for a suicide attempt after he washes out of the program. And lest we forget, the tough-but-fair commander (Tyrese Gibson, from “2 Fast 2 Furious”) who rides our hero mercilessly.
On top of this, the film uses Franco’s boxing skills as a subplot that eventually takes over the picture. It’s as though two different scripts – one an “Officer and a Gentleman” rip-off, the other a boxing flick – were combined by some demented computer program.
| Insipid: An insipid movie that plays like a computer program of “An Officer and a Gentleman” and a boxing flick. James Franco stars as a Naval Academy plebe from the wrong side of the tracks, who endures a series of cliches at school.
Rated: PG-13 rating is for violence Now showing: Everett 9, Galaxy, Loews, Marysville, Mountlake, Pacific Place, Woodinville, Cascade |
Eventually, Franco’s progress through the brigade boxing tournament becomes the entire point of his enrollment. It is stated that his success in boxing will define his success as a man. That’s odd; I would have thought his success as a student and naval officer would be sort of important in this context.
Anything that might have added depth or detail to this scenario has been left on the cutting-room floor. What’s left are the bare bones of formula. When Franco invites his disapproving father to the boxing match, and the father insists he must work in the shipyard instead, the probability of Dad showing up unannounced looms with all the uncertainty of the sun rising in the morning.
Alas, “Annapolis” was directed by Justin Lin, whose first film, “Better Luck Tomorrow,” was a promising debut in the Scorsese-junior category. Either Lin got bullied by the studio or he just gave up, for this is a dismal experience.
JLEFT: Jordanna Brewster and James Franco star in “Annapolis.”
BELOW: Franco and Tyrese Gibson in “Annapolis.”
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