The Way Back (2020)

“You want to know why they’re leaving you open? It’s because they don’t think you can hit the ocean from the beach.” – Jack Cunningham

Number of Times Seen – 1 (24 Mar 2020)

Brief Synopsis – A former basketball star who has alcohol dependency issues is hired as a coach for his alma mater where he must try and help the team to a winning season while battling his own internal demons.

My Take on it – This is a film that I heard about a few months ago and was quite intrigued to see what it was all about due to the fact that Ben Affleck is in the lead role.

He does a wonderful job bringing this character to life while also making us get a better understanding of all that he must face every day in life.

The film hints along the way to certain tragedies yet it takes a while for them to reveal everything and that buildup really helps make things more enjoyable to watch unfold.

The story is able to compare and contrast the various aspects of his life in which he needs to juggle his responsibilities as a coach and mentor with his attempts to grapple with his own personal demons that keep haunting him.

They give us a realistic look at this kind of psychological trauma and doesn’t sugarcoat things at all which helps make things even more poignant to watch unfold.

This isn’t a typical sports film where a new coach must try and help a losing team reach its potential, but instead allows for the story to be much more meaty in all that it needs to do.

They make some bold choices with this plot and they pay off in the end because it helps make things go in directions that are usually avoided in mainstream movies like this one and it helps make the story more enjoyable to watch due to fact that we really can feel the character’s pain as things progress.

Bottom Line – Affleck does a great job bringing this character to life and making us understand the various burdens he must face in life. The film does a nice job of comparing and contrasting the correlation that this character must deal with while juggling the coaching and mentoring aspects of things with the personal demons the main character must try to endure and overcome. Really liked the way that this film is not a typical or generic film about a new coach helping a losing team get better. They make some bold choices in the story that allow things to go in directions that are unexpected and virtually unheard of in films like this. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Like Jack, Ben Affleck has also struggled with alcoholism.  (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (8/10)

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