Plot: What’s it about?
In High School I played Tennis. Growing up in the South, Football and Basketball were what all the jocks played, though. It’s not that uncommon for the Varsity football team to have control over the town like they did in Friday Night Lights. In Texas, football is king second only to religion (and that line becomes blurred from time to time). Small blue-collar towns like Odessa don’t have a lot to look forward to except their football team. This is the sort of town in which everyone knows everyone else and everyone’s business is public knowledge. Boys were supposed to play football, the girls be cheerleaders and the fathers live vicariously through their High School football team. This was depicted in another football movie, Varsity Blues which shares a lot of the same traits as Friday Night Lights.
The movie focuses on the town of Odessa, Texas and thier high expectations for not only a perfect season, but a state championship as well. The head coach, Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton) makes more money than the High School Principal and is expected to deliver. But the focus is all on the players. Mike Winchell (Lucas Black) is the quarterback, shy and reserved, and whose mother quizzes him on plays during every meal of the day. Don Billingsley (Garrett Hedlund) tries to live up to the expectations of his alchololic father (Tim McGraw – yes, the singer) and Boobie Miles (Derek Luke) has the most promising future in the game, only to suffer a career-ending injury in the first game. The movie follows the team through their highs and lows and Thornton never gets portrayed as some dictator-like coach. Instead, he’s modest and faces the very real possibility that the team won’t win it all and tries to live down their high expectations.
In the realm of football movies, there are three recent ones that fit nearly the same bill: Friday Night Lights, Remember the Titans and Varsity Blues. I’d have to say that I really prefer Remember the Titans the best as it’s the most inspiring (and still based on a true story). “Friday Night Lights” is a great, well-made movie and anyone who likes the game of football will certainly get a jolt out of the film. I won’t divulge the ending, of course, but let’s say that the movie is true to the book by H.G. Bissinger. It’s amazing the amount of pressure that has been put on mere teenagers over the years, something that will probably not change – but it’s also amazing what can be accomplished for the love of the game. Short of playing the game, this one gives us an insight into what it was like for the Odessa Panthers (and every other High School team out there) in their quest for the 1988 Texas State Championship.
Video: How does it look?
I remember commenting on how the film looked: crystal clear in some scenes and intentionally grainy in others. With this new 4K edition we get the best of both worlds in that the good scenes look better and the “grainy” scenes look better still. The entire movie uses handheld cameras and gives it the same sort of look that films like “The Kingdom” and “Saving Private Ryan” have. The 2.39:1 HEVC 4K transfer does look good and the game scenes (filmed at night, obviously) don’t suffer from any artifacting in the least. Colors are a bit muted for the most part, but detail is bumped up with great effect.
Audio: How does it sound?
We get a new Dolby Atmos soundtrack with great effectiveness. Football movies, by and large, tend to sound pretty good especially during game scenes. The loud “thuds” caused by the tackles really activates the LFE and as such the film has a very robust soundtrack. Dialogue sounds a bit on the soft side or maybe thats just because the football scenes are that good. Unlike a lot of sports movies, this one actually has a lot of football scenes in it and makes for a very good listening experience.
Supplements: What are the extras?
- Deleted Scenes – We get a slew of deleted scenes. Some are presented in anamorphic widescreen and others are not. There’s no commentary accompanying them, so we don’t really know why they were cut – but the old “pacing” seems to fit here.
- Peter Berg Discusses a Scene in the Movie – The title says it all. We get the director as he discusses the scene in the burger joint.
- Player Cam -In the “this is somewhat misleading” department, we get some home movies from the real Periman Panthers.
- Tim McGraw: Off the Stage – McGraw dishes about his acting experience, how he could relate to the character and the challenge of doing acting as opposed to singing.
- The Story of the 1988 Periman Panthers – What’s more interesting is this informative documentary on the real players portrayed in the film – a kind of “where are they now” segment.
- Gridiron Grads – Essentially a focus on the extras in the movie that were used to fill out the teams.
- Behind the Lights – Interviews with the real 1988 Periman Panthers in a “where are they now” segment along with some quips from the cast and crew.
- Audio Commentary – Peter Berg delivers an insightful commentary that shows how much passion he had for this project. It’s nearly as good as the movie itself.
The Bottom Line
It’s been a while since I watched this movie. And I forgot how good it was. A bit more realistic than Varsity Blues, Friday Night Lights might have been outshined by the long-running TV series that followed it. Nevertheless, we’ve got a 4K version with improved audio and video though the supplements are the same as before.
