Apparently MTV and the military had a baby and named it "Predictable." Well, actually, they named it Annapolis, and it's just unfortunate in every respect.
Annapolis, home of the famed Naval Academy, is the film's backdrop. The Navy should be ashamed of itself if it approved this script. The plot holes are so big, a battleship could sail right through them. And if the sheer stupidity of this film weren't so funny, it would be tempting.
At the helm is director Justin Lin (Better Luck Tomorrow), who has only worked on a handful of movies, and it shows in the unevenness of the cinematography. Some scenes look like they belong in another film.
The movie's star and main cliche, James Franco (Tristan and Isolde) is Jake, the wrong-side-of-the-tracks kid who works in a shipyard and longs to attend the Naval Academy across the river. In an impossible twist, Franco is offered a spot in the freshman class.
His new roommates are also cliched, but they're incredibly offensive to minorities as well: a studious Asian character who's a whiz at calculus, a shady Puerto Rican guy and a wisecracking chubby African-American sidekick. I kept waiting for more depth, and I was sadly disappointed.
Of course, Jake is the lone wolf who refuses to ask for help, and so he struggles through the first half of the film.
Franco's clenched-jaw attitude and quiet intensity are impressive, but it's just not enough. His best acting moments are subtle, like when he's in a comic moment.
The movie could use a few more light-hearted scenes.
The only skill poor Jake has is boxing, and his dream is to enter and win a year-end boxing tournament. All he needs to fulfill the tired story of the underdog fighter is a reigning champion to take down and an inspirational trainer.
Enter Jordana Brewster, the gorgeous sexy gal who just happens to be a brilliant older officer and an expert on boxing. I struggled with that character's believability too.
I first saw Brewster's work a decade ago when she was on my favorite daytime soap. I always thought she was destined for bigger and better things. After The Fast and the Furious, I started to lose hope. Now it looks like she'll forever be typecast as a pretty C-list actress who can't escape the teen flick genre.
Brewster makes an admirable stab at fleshing a character out of a caricature, but like Franco, she's working with garbage.
The last important piece to this puzzle is Tyrese Gibson (2 Fast 2 Furious), the model/actor who must spend days on end in the gym to look as good as he does. Gibson is a superior officer who butts heads with Jake and just happens to be a championship heavyweight fighter. With the big boxing competition coming up, take a wild guess at how Jake will redeem himself at the academy.
I'm a little puzzled by a big choice the production team made. One thing that's always missing from Gibson's character is compassion. Gibson's character isn't evil; he just loves his country and doesn't believe Jake is there to serve.
In the trailer for this movie, there's a scene where Brewster's character says, "Why are you so hard on him?" and Gibson's character answers, "Because I believe in him."
That scene is nowhere to be found in the finished product.
If it had, the ending might have been more plausible, and given some much-needed dimension to Gibson's character.
All in all, I'm tempted to flunk this movie, but Franco and Brewster's chemistry and untapped talent earn this film a little leeway.
Grade: D
