Film 161 (Goal: 300) of 2024:

Heart of Champions, also know as Pressure Point, sees an Army veteran Coach (played by Michael Shannon) take over as the trainer for a rowing team, where he has to balance their egos and past issues.

Boy do I love sports movies. When done well, even the simple ones work. Heart of Champions is a pretty standard film, that doesn't break any new ground. If you've seen one of these mentor arrives to turn the team around, and initially they ruffle feathers, but eventually bring the team together films - you've usually seen them all.

Michael Shannon is really good as the ex-Army Veteran who while carrying grief of his own, brings his life lessons to the team. It's a role that a veteran actor could have breezed through but Shannon brings a strange warmth, in this leadership role. Charles Melton, Alexander Ludwig and Alex MacNicholl round out the 3 main student roles. Ludwig's arc, while reaching a logical conclusion, feels like there could have been some additional payoff. The film also makes a brave decision at the end of Act 2, that I didn't see coming.

Some of the interactions between the student characters feel tonally different from the rest of the film. While I enjoyed the main romantic relationship, and some of the elements of these interactions play a big part in climax of Act 2, they still feel out of place against the main rowing story.

Heart of Champions works because of some great acting, some good script decisions in key moments, and a pretty good score that ramps up during the rowing scenes. As mentioned before, it doesn't break the mold but it's easy watching.