Warrior Strong Review | A Basketball Film About Underdogs That Ultimately Underwhelms

With the persona of a profane biker that had no problem being offensive to his crowd, comic Andrew Dice Clay has made a name for himself since the late 1980s on comedy stages all across the United States by borrowing and combining mannerisms from such icons as Sylvester Stallone and Elvis Presley. Riding that fame into other areas of Hollywood, he has also actively starred in many big and small screen productions that span various genres and categories. Most recently though, the former humorist known as The Diceman has bounced right out of an action thriller called God Is a Bullet and into the role of a troubled high school basketball coach in a new movie called Warrior Strong.

Directed by Shane Belcourt and produced by Darius Films, actor Jordan Johnson-Hinds (The Retirement Plan, Suits) also stars in this feel-good sports movie opposite Clay as Bilal Irving. Once hailed as the hometown hero that ultimately took a fortuitous scholarship into the Chinese pro basketball league, he has now fallen from grace due to a string of incidents involving bad behavior. When Avery Schmidt (Clay’s character) suffers a mild heart attack in the middle of a game, Carter (Irving’s agent) hears of this and leaps on the opportunity. He ends up sending the professional player all the way back to his roots in hopes of rebuilding the man’s image even though many from the school take his sudden re-emergence as a sign of good will and nothing more.

Mixing in the different stories that revolve around the players on the team along with a subplot that thinly lays out a budding romance between Schmidt and one of the school’s employees, viewers also get to see the ups and downs that take place between Schmidt’s old-school ways and Irving’s new game methods.

Struggling to Become Who He Once Was

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While Johnson-Hinds does his best to pull some emotion out of every scene that he’s involved in (and does a pretty good job at that), Warrior Strong feels very bland and unimaginative when compared side by side with other sports titles like Hoosiers and Bad News Bears that tend to the underdog, especially the more recent and somewhat similar Hustle. If you’ve come across the type of film where a self-centered individual ends up face to face with a decision that pits his own selfish path against another’s success, you instantly know the beat by beat plot points of this movie. Any sort of great plot twist that could help distinguish this from the many similar films that came before is non-existent.

In Warrior Strong’s defense, some attempts are made to revitalize the underdog fairy tale seen in films like The Mighty Ducks by meshing the formula with modern times. Pretty early on, the audience is introduced to a non-binary character who is on the spectrum and a Haitian teenage immigrant who is brought on as a much-needed member of the team. As in the case of Macaulee Cassaday and Randy Jernier, who step into these roles respectively and play the part with satisfactory performances, the problem with this is how the film executes on this inclusivity.

Instead of approaching these characters naturally, the aforementioned and explicit trait is exploited for the benefit of the team’s progress. Cassaday’s character is told over and over again that she belongs, and suddenly she plays better. Introductory dialogue with Jernier’s character connects his Caribbean background with his height and wingspan, which is an advantage for playing basketball. These sequences obviously move the story forward but weaken who these people are and undoubtedly make these underdogs unremarkable. Related: How Elemental Introduced Pixar’s First Non-Binary Character

Clashing Coaches Entertain Audiences

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One aspect of Warrior Strong that does work (with some trepidation) comes from the two leads, Andrew Dice Clay and Jordan Johnson-Hinds. Some may be disappointed that the former does not have a chance to totally display what he is most known for, but Schmidt’s over the top, strong-headed temperament at times is a nice nod to Clay’s most popular shtick. Johnson-Hinds is not only a physical counterpart to his older co-star but also holds a younger pizazz that Clay keeps reserved. Whether they are bonding over the misfortunes of their past, arguing about plays being done the right way, or trying to keep their players focused on the game, these two actors are an entertaining force together.

On the flip side, one of the biggest problems that keeps Warrior Strong from truly succeeding as an authentic story lies right in its name. With the many directions that this movie takes, it seems to forget that the main crux of this story is supposed to be about the players on the team. Everything else can come in as a close second in importance. But yet, all of these spirited basketball playing warriors simultaneously suffer broken hearts when Irving is suddenly no longer focused on them.

The Script Doesn’t Have Enough Spirit

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Aside from the stumbling storytelling that came before it, Warrior Strong’s climax deserves the most blame. During the important championship game, the once highly regarded player should be the only one feeling the emotional detachment (since he was the one that needed the redemption arc) and realize that his spirit is within the walls of his high school. Instead, the older teens are at their wits end about how to play and what to do because Irving is nowhere to be found. By this age and this point of the plot, this decision makes the characters feel like they haven’t progressed at all and may not even be deserving of a win. As a side note, casting should have been handled better. Some high schoolers look to be the same age as Irving.

More time should have been given to the high schoolers and their families. Warrior Strong should’ve let the audience see why they have passion for sports and why they decided to play basketball specifically, and surged momentum for the final game. Instead, this movie relies on the lazy scheme of showing us scoreboards and rankings that tell about the team succeeding and not showing anything regarding the motivational underdogs they are supposed to be. It’s a deflating ending symptomatic of the entire film.

From Quiver Distribution, Warrior Strong is in theaters and available to buy or rent September 29th

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