Race Review

For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed running. Shorter distances never were my forte, but nevertheless I enjoy running on all fronts, which is why I was intrigued by Race. The latest of many sports biopics to be released over the years, this particular picture chronicles the story of how Jesse Owens, an African-American man, eventually went on to make history at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany. Winning four gold medals and setting world records, he caused a massive stir around the entire globe; with that context in mind, does Race do well to honor his impeccable legacy?

1933 was a great year for aspiring collegiate athlete Jesse Owens (Stephan James), who had recently been accepted into Ohio State University to run for the track team. Specializing in the long jump and 100 meter dash, he was taken on as a pupil for former Olympic runner Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis), and began training for the next Olympic Games in Berlin. While all of this is taking place, much friction was being caused between the United States, Germany and other nations over the matter of racism. The issue was so palpable that the very games themselves were in danger of being boycotted, which soon caused problems for many others--including Owens.

Now, if you have seen any standard sports-themed biopic--specifically ones that touch on African-American athletes fighting against racism--you have basically seen them all. Race certainly hits all the beats you would expect a film of its type to do so, and some are not as effective as others. Nevertheless, I cannot deny that there are a fair amount of things to enjoy from this; for me, I was pleased by how quickly the movie jumped into its plot. The pitfall of most biopics is that they tread water with exposition so much that they never develop a sense of pace, but Race counteracts that by enveloping its audience into the plot almost immediately and unfolding character details as time goes on. The picture benefits greatly from such an approach to writing, although I will say that some of these details felt awkward and heavy-handed in their delivery. The filmmakers’ commitment to quickly placing you in the narrative makes for some solid entertainment value, and the story overall is interesting.

Like I had said though, Race does suffer from a lot of the same issues found in other biopics, which are mainly pretension and then over-stuffed plotlines. There are plenty of things that this story wishes to tell you about its characters and the inner workings of how the 1936 Olympics came to be, but they're more detrimental than helpful. Race felt much longer than it should have been due to how much content is packed into its runtime, and such messiness doesn’t exactly help the film’s sociopolitical cause either. The filmmakers obviously had the intention of using Race as effective social commentary, but with all else that attempts to accomplish, that aspect falls flat. With more focus and finesse, more akin to something like Remember the Titans, the goals of this particular picture could have been better realized. Even so Race is an enjoyable picture, and the story is worth hearing about.

For what it’s worth, Race is strengthened by the power of its lead actors. Stephan James, the young man who assumed the role of Owens, was virtually unknown to me prior to this picture; sadly this film’s already lackluster box office performance won’t boost this actor’s career, but with bigger projects, I am sure that James will make a name for himself. I appreciated the subtlety and quietness of his work here, which helps his performance not get in the way of anything else despite the fact that he plays the lead character. This approach to acting also complements co-star Jason Sudeikis, who had a surprisingly effective dramatic role. It’s always interesting to see how comedians pull off more serious work, and here I think he does this quite well by involving himself emotionally into his character. When I watched him perform on screen, I could see that he was playing a broken, but hopeful man, as opposed to the loud comedian most categorize him as. The other performers in the ensemble, which include William Hurt and even the great Jeremy Irons, don’t stand out that powerfully in their performances, but the two aforementioned leads do well enough on their merits to carry the weight of this picture.

Equally a strength and weakness to Race is its audio/visual presentation, which had a noticeably low budget. On one hand, there are plenty of instances in which green-screen images fill in backgrounds (particularly in the final act), which jarringly clashes against the otherwise authentic production design. I also wished that sometimes the running sequences could have been shot in a manner that showed more of what was happening, but hey, it’s not my job to tell a director how to do their job; that is simply wishful thinking on my part. Still, there are a number of other sequences which are enjoyable to watch, especially when Owens and other athletes are performing the long jump. As my friend Justin Pugmire also noted, an intriguing strength of Race is its effective use of sound to help the audience get inside Jesse Owen’s head. I refer to the Olympic scenes when I say this, for I learned much more about what he experienced through artistic expression rather than simply having the script directly explain his experience. That is a strength for any artistic piece, so I appreciated seeing that use of technique.

Notwithstanding such things, Race does not necessarily rise above the standard we have generally seen among similar sports films. While it avoids this genre's tendency to wallow in slow-burning exposition and sappiness, much of the other typical story problems remain, particularly in how much the script tries to pack in historical details. Still, there are enough redeeming qualities here to warrant a viewing for those wanting to learn more about important landmarks in sports history. While I can’t exactly recommend racing to a theater for it, the story of Jesse Owens received a decent enough cinematic treatment.

6.0/10

RED FLAG FOR PARENTS (minor spoilers): Race is pretty tame for families to watch, although there is still some content to know about. As far as language is concerned, the worst you will hear are the S-word and some strong racial slurs (not enough to make one cringe, though). Also, In one scene, Jesse Owens dances with a woman in a Los Angeles nightclub who obviously tries to seduce him. The scene is not erotic, but it is still something to be aware of. Expect your children to also ask about the context of racism, both with the Nazi regime and the treatment of African-Americans in the Great Depression era.

Notes
1. Poster was borrowed from the Wikipedia page for Race.
2. All other images were taken from the Rotten Tomatoes page for Race.