We Are Marshall is an uplifting and inspiring movie about courage and football. It is based on a real-life tragedy and stars Matthew McConaughey as Jack Lengyel, a football coach on a mission.
His task: to rebuild a college football team shattered by a heart-breaking accident. On November 14, 1970, a jet carrying the Marshall University American football team from North Carolina to West Virginia crashes less than a minute before landing. All the players, coaches and university staff members on board are killed.
The school plans to temporarily suspend the programme. But a few remaining members of the squad, who didn't board the flight due to injury or other reasons, mobilise the students and the whole town to protest against the decision.
Eventually, the university president Donald Dedmon (David Strathairn) backs down, and the young coach Lengyel is hired to rebuild the programme.
McConaughey the heart-throb doesn't fit the role of a zany and gung-ho football coach. There are times when his character looks like he should be locked in an asylum rather than running around the football pitch in his embarrassing flowered shirt.
But his comic performance in a sense balances the sadness of the story, which - to the credit of the director McG - avoids the pitfall of being overtly sentimental. McG's other films, including the Charlie's Angels series, tend to be over the top, but here even the fateful plane crash is handled in a subtle but effective manner.