Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

Remember the Titans
2000
**½
Director: Boaz Yakin
Cast: Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Donald Faison, Wood Harris

This feelgood drama is based on a true story. In the 1970s a black high school football coach, charismatically played by Denzel Washington, tries to mould a group of racially mixed kids into a team. The film is thoroughly watchable but incredibly simplistic and manipulative (deep-rooted racial prejudices disappear in seconds and the emotional highs and lows arrive like a clockwork). It adheres to the standard sport movie formula and the whole thing is sprinkled with an endless flow of predictable period hits.