Ok, so we got that negative review for HE GOT GAME the other day, well we all saw that Aguirre liked it in the review he wrote, but here are two full length reviews from people that enjoyed it. As I said yesterday, people either love or hate Spike Lee's films, so give it a chance and see what you think. He's one hell of a powerful filmmaker when all the pistons are firing... There does seem to be a common complaint and that's the Aaron Copland score, but I'll let them fill you in The first review comes from the Gutman...
Good afternoon, sir. Just thought I'd drop you a line regarding the He Got Game review. You see, I also was in attendance at a test screening of this film and wish to offer my own thoughts. You may call me Gutman, as I'm a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk...about movies.
Okay, enough of the fake Sydney Greenstreet patois...
To my mind, Spike Lee, like Oliver Stone, is at his best when he's just trying to tell a story and not solve the problems of modern civilization. He Got Game suffers from some preachiness, but I would rank it as one of Lee's better films.
Denzel Washington delivers his uaual fine performance as Jake Shuttlesworth, a convict who gets sprung from Attica in order to convince his son, Jesus (played by Milwaukee Bucks player Ray Allen) to attend the governor's alma mater, Big State. (Is this a real school or a lack of imagination on Lee's part?) Jesus, who's been raising his little sister on his own for the past couple of years, wants nothing to do with his father, seeing him as just another opportunistic huckster who wants something from him.
And he is surrounded. Everybody from his uncle (Bill Nunn) to his coach wants a piece of Jesus. It's a credit to both Lee and to Allen's performance that He Got Game is less focused on Jake than it is on Jesus. Allen probably has just as much screen time as Denzel, and he pulls it off nicely.
What I didn't like? The music. Using Aaron Copland as the musical score for what is essentially a harsh, city-bound drama, was an appallingly wrong-headed notion. It just plain doesn't work.
There's a certain tendency towards over-the-topness in some sequences, especially a visit Jesus pays to a top University--John Turturro has a cameo as a coach. The sense of reality we've had up to now suffers because of it.
All in all, I would recommend this film.
Gutman
Actually this next one is more of a mixed review, doing the whole give and take angst bit. This one comes from Goose, the globetrotting cel painter...
To call "He Got Game" a basketball movie would be like calling "Raging Bull" a boxing movie- there's a lot more going on here than dribbling and shooting. Unfortunately, the comparison between those two films has to end there, for Spike Lee's latest is an incredibly uneven film. It deliberates in a dozen directions, and a picture that could have been a powerhouse ends up merely a curiosity.
Denzel Washington plays Jake Shuttlesworth, in prison on a count of murder. He is offered a deal by the governor: if he can persuade his basketball star son Jesus (Ray Allen) to attend Big State University, the governor's Alma Mater, then Jake's sentence will be lessened. Jake is sent out into the city, and has a week to convince his estranged son. Meanwhile, Jesus is besieged by corrupt sports agents and universities, all trying to win him over to their team.
Denzel Washington delivers an intense performance, and newcomer Ray Allen is a charismatic presence. The film features numerous basketball coaches and players as themselves. John Turturro has a brief cameo that rivals his appearance in "The Big Lebowski."
Lee's script is schizophrenic. Intermittently, it is the most subtle, intelligent writing he has ever done. Most of the time, it is forced or just plain silly. The same goes for his direction. Lee has gradually become engulfed in his own style, most notably in "Girl 6", which flaunted scene after scene of cinematic wizardry and not much else. "He Got Game" sees more gaudy lighting, tracking shots, and flash inserts, but occasionally Lee's humanity peeks through. One sequence, a flashback to Jesus's youth playing basketball with his dad, is one of the most powerful that Lee has ever filmed.
A key problem with the film is the score by Aaron Copland. The music is broadly melodramatic and draws too much attention to itself, saturating every moment in the film with sticky sentiment. The score seems more appropriate for a Hollywood romance from the 1950's. Public Enemy's songs are much better, but sadly underused.
Since "Jungle Fever," Lee has been struggling to find a filmmaking voice beyond the anger of his early films. So far, he has been floundering, and for every success like his recent documentary "4 Little Girls," there is the self important "Malcom X" and the chaotic mess of "Clockers." "He Got Game" is a move towards a more human Lee, one interested in people and not in causes. Whether that's a good thing, we can only wait and see.
