What’s up with Oliver Stone? The 53-year-old director started a revealing exposé about malpractice in the world of American football, changed his mind and came up with an exciting but clichéd sports film.
It seems that Stone is tired of going against the grain. It hasn't been easy for him for a decade since JFK (1991). After mediocre films such as The Doors (1991) and Heaven and earth (1993), Natural born killers (1994) was even quite daring for its own sake. The aftermath of an ongoing lawsuit in which Stone is held personally responsible for an apparently film-inspired shooting must have taken its toll somewhere. Then the masterful Nixon (1995), a film about a president with the allure of a royal drama and one of his most accomplished pieces, flopped, forcing Stone to lose his status as a radical yet well-financed filmmaker.
With the large budgets temporarily out of reach, the director made the smaller-scale U-Turn (1997), in which he unleashed his unique, hyperkinetic film style on the conventions of the film noir. In recognition of his efforts, he was nominated as worst director at the annual Golden Raspberries. It's enough to make you feel despondent and there comes a time when a fighter like Oliver Stone thinks, "Okay. What I want is money, respect and full houses. It doesn't matter how.' It can hardly be a coincidence that the two projects with which Stone (after the reasonably successful Any given Sunday in America) is currently associated with are typical mainstream films. It concerns the already several times postponed Superman Lives (with Nicolas Cage in the lead role) and a new, third remake of A star is born (with Will Smith).
It doesn't really matter if these movies get there or not. The fact that Stone's name is associated with it is enough to question his artistic ambitions. Where is his film about Martin Luther King? Or his Media Project, in which he would examine the division of the entire media world into a few conglomerates? A topic that is currently more topical than ever. But if his view of these things is as predictable as his view of the sporting world, perhaps it's better he doesn't get involved.
Testosterone
In Any Given Sunday Stone addresses well-known but not unimportant contrasts such as commerce versus honour, egoism versus loyalty and youthful (over) courage versus years of experience. It should come as no surprise that his sympathy goes out to the qualities which are always mentioned second. It is disappointing that he has so little original to say about these matters. When younger athletes don't just think about themselves, their paychecks and their conquests, but are willing to learn from the past that old hands carry with them, it benefits the big family that a professional sports team can be. If the club management then wants to make sure that there is no haggling with supporters, players and coaches, then everything will be fine.
Precisely because Any Given Sunday was made without the cooperation of the National Football League, you would expect Stone to dare to go beyond a platitude about doping like 'it's not pretty, but it's part of it'. And what about the motto of the film, which has been repeated several times: 'Every Sunday you can win or lose, but can you also do that as a man?' Is it a coincidence that the 'bad guy' in Any Given Sunday Cameron Diaz, incidentally, well played, woman is? Especially if it's the only female role of importance in this tough-man film, which is mainly filled with testosterone and Al Pacino. You really don't have to be ill-willed to conclude that according to Stone, the woman's place in the football world is in the stands, next to the other players' wives, who are just going crazy - as Lauren Holly does beautifully. in one of her few scenes — when their aging husbands, in a moment of weakness, think of quitting because they've been injured one too many times.
powerhouse
Any given Sunday's problems are mainly off the field, Stone does score a touchdown inside the lines. The Vietnam veteran convincingly conveys the purely physical thrill of the ignoble football game, with guys wrapped from head to toe with head, balls, elbows and knee pads ruthlessly attacking each other. The filmmaker himself is powerful enough to portray the matches of the fictional Miami Sharks in a visually virtuoso way.
With the handheld camera between the players, with a sometimes astonishing alternation of frame rates, with loud music and with his well-known flashy editing, the first half hour of Any Given Sunday is almost as overwhelming as the beginning of Saving private Ryan. In the end, Stone's relentless bombardment of the senses still kills a bit because the film is entertaining, but not convincing in terms of content. Or to stay in sports but not American football terms: Stone is a boxer whose footwork still looks flashy, but whose right-hand direct is no longer powerful enough to knock out the viewer.
Oene Kummer