Foxcatcher Review

     There are few things sadder than a once national hero treated like yesterday's news, a fate which seems too often fall on Olympic athletes. Every four years, these athletes come out and are treated like symbols of a nation but are then discarded. Many of the sports in the Olympics are not like basketball or baseball; people don't care most of the time. No one cares about gymnastics or swimming 99% of the time, they care about it for one month every four years. These people dedicate their lives to their sport for one shining moment every few years, and that's it; a fate that often falls upon wrestlers. While the sport of mixed martial arts has given an opportunity to high school and college wrestlers, the Olympics is the grandest stage of them all; but what happens when they have to step off the stage. 

     Former Olympic wrestling gold medalist Mark Schultz lives a monotonous life. His best years behind him, he spends his days practicing wrestling in the hopes of future success. While his brother Dave, also an Olympic gold medalist, has a family and can adjust to everyday life, Mark isn't the most social person in the world. One day, Mark receives from an employee of John E. du Pont, a multi-millionaire and sports enthusiast. Mister du Pont invites Mark to his compound; there he offers Mark a chance to train at the professional level. He will give Mark access to his facility and to build a team that could compete in the world championships as well as the Olympics. Mark agrees and attempts to get his brother to join, but he refuses to uproot his family. Mark wants to be the best in the world, and du Pont wants him to fulfill his dream and to help America achieve greatness. But Mark soon learns something is off with mister du Pont. 

     I had particularly high hopes for this movie ever since its debut at the Cannes film festival earlier this year, where it received overwhelming critical acclaim; director Bennett Miller even won the award for best director, and may I add well deserved. Just as I hoped, this movie is as great as the critics have been saying. This movie does a lot of things right, and I'll get to those, but let me first talk about the acting. Steve Carell and Channing Tatum, give career defining performances as John du Pont and Mark Schultz. They really lose themselves in these roles and take on their personas to a near perfect level. I would not be surprised if either of them gets nominated for a number of awards over the next few months. Years from now when we look back on their careers, this is the movie we will look back at. I also have to give credit to the makeup people; a lot of makeup and prosthetic were used on Carell to make him look more like du Pont and it looks great. Like I said earlier, director Bennett Miller did a great job with this movie, he had a clear vision of what this movie should have been and he accomplished that. This is only his third movie, the first two being "Capote" and "Moneyball" (both of which are great), but "Foxcatcher" has to be the best of the three; it is certainly the darkest of the three. The film is very emotional and may have a few people in tears by the end; it also does a great job in paying respect to the people that were involved. Sometimes movies based on true events don't do that, but "Foxcatcher" shows them as real people. One thing that is strikingly obvious is that the cinematography is top notch; it's obvious a lot of planning went into it and it gives the film a very particular look. One thing I'm so happy that the film did right was that it did a good job portraying the sport of wrestling. So often it's portrayed as ridiculous and only done among meat heads, but "Foxcatcher" does it with respect; and I appreciate that. Unfortunately though, "Foxcatcher" suffers from one serious problem, it's very slow. At no point was I ever bored, but the film has a very slow build up and takes a while to really get going; and by the end you start to feel the length of the film. There is also one problem that bothered me that I doubt anyone else in the theater noticed. In the film, they show footage from a mixed martial arts fight between Gary Goodridge and Paul Herrera in 1996. The problem is that the particular scene where it is shown takes place between 1987 and 1988. This one little continuity error that doesn't take anything away from the film, but was enough to bother me just a little. That aside, this is a wonderful movie. Fantastic acting, great directing, and beautiful cinematography all come together into greatness. With 2014 almost over and the December lineup looking pretty lackluster, "Foxcatcher" might be the last great movie of the year. 

Pros: Career defining performances from Steve Carell and Channing Tatum, great directing from Bennett Miller, excellent cinematography, great use of makeup on Carell, dark and emotional, does a good job portraying wrestling, pays respect to the actual events and those involved.

Cons: Pretty slow pace, one glaring continuity error.

4.5/5 Stars