Directed by first-time filmmaker and veteran editor William Goldenberg (Zero Dark Thirty, Air, an Oscar winner for Argo, Heat), Unstoppable is the story of real-life wrestler Anthony Robles (played by Jharrel Jerome, Moonlight), who was born with one leg but worked harder than imaginable and won a national championship in 2011 while competing at Arizona State University.
Based on his autobiography of the same name (co-written by Austin Murphy), the film traces Robles’ journey from high school, under Coach Bobby Williams (Michael Peña), to ASU’s Coach Shawn Charles (Anthony Mackie), who gave the wrestler no special treatment and actually assumed there was no way he’d make the cut. But a relentless training regimen and unbreakable sense of determination made Robles the best wrestler on his team and a source of inspiration for his teammates. Outside of the sport, the film also dives into the athlete’s turbulent home life, with the unwavering support of his mother Judy (Jennifer Lopez), his generically absentee father Rick (Bobby Cannavale) and a host of brothers and sisters who provided Robles with his own cheering section.
While the home life sequences are frequently painful and give us clear examples of why Robles sometimes had a tough time keeping his mind on his goals of winning (his father really did do a number on his confidence), the entire film could have been done without ever showing what was going on in his household. The training sequences and subsequent matches leading up to the championships he competed in would have done enough to tell his story perfectly; the rest frequently feel like distraction, but I understand with Robles being a producer on Unstoppable, he wants to shine a light on his mother’s role in his journey.
I honestly believed Jerome had only one leg (he has two) and that the filmmakers lucked out finding such a talented, one-legged actor to play this role, so much credit should go to the effects team that achieved this illusion. Aside from that, the film frequently drifts into some fairly standard-issue sports movie cliches when it comes to Robles’ story and portraying the various matches. This doesn’t mean the film doesn’t achieve its goal of being a soaring source of inspiration, anticipatory tension, and quite a few dramatic bouts, but a great deal of it feels familiar at times. I was genuinely moved by Jerome’s focused, hard-driven performance, with Peña and Mackie coming through as his coaches, both in the sport and in life.
As I alluded to, the portions of the film that focus on family are the ones that grind the film to a halt at points. Lopez is probably overqualified to play the put-upon mother, and Cannavale is simply a stereotypical father who wants no part of Anthony’s life, cheats on his wife frequently, and lies about having a job, putting the family in financial trouble. I believe all of this happened to Robles, but director Goldenberg simply presents it in a way that feels far too familiar and uninspired.
On the plus side, the film’s physicality is unwavering and powerful, and in the sports drama genre, you would struggle to find anything like it. Robles used wrestling to work out his emotional issues; it was his safe space even though he took an immense amount of abuse on the mat (the real Robles actually does some doubling for Jerome in some scenes and was a technical adviser, making the matches seem all the more authentic). Parts of Unstoppable are great, parts of subpar; it’s up to you to decide which parts you need to work for you to enjoy it.
The film is now playing in a limited theatrical release and will be available to stream January 16 on Prime Video.
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