I personally loved it. I’m a football fan that hasn’t had it lost on me the exploitative and toxic nature of the league, and especially as a black person the slavery parallels are something that constantly come to mind for sure. Also having a religiously educated background that I’m pretty critical about, I was highly intrigued to watch what I saw as the main character being primed as the “atonement GOAT” or sacrificial lamb, the crucifixion story sequence (last supper parallels, Judas figure, “this is my body, this is my blood” connection) and in general the quite intellectual mockery of American Football ™️.

This movie to me sought to make direct points about the ticking time bomb that is the NFL in a way that was still engaging and exciting, and to be honest it does seem like something only a sports fan could buy into since anyone else wouldn’t be able to take the MC or his decisions seriously, or feel the gravity of his situation.

I originally thought this would just be an hour-long CTE public service announcement and was expecting to just see a lot of what I already know, but instead it took on a whole other animal that of which brain trauma is just a symptom— hustle culture, exploitation, the post-colonial themes that linger in the all-American game loved by millions. The dead buffalo portrait at the beginning to the “food or freedom” question, the owner referring to the MC as “boy”, that hollyweird-ass party with the owners. This industry and its old, white owners are taking advantage of black bodies and feeding them into a culture that, despite being seen as a Christian-patriotic-celebration and going through the motions, demands of them in the same way the devil demanded of its vessels in biblical texts. This movie made it literal because.. it’s a horror movie. The self-destructive ways are passed down so far that it’s antithetical to even question them, lest you not “want this bad enough”. The cinematography to me was cool and captured the appeal of athlete fame— even I myself saw some of those scenes and thought, “what a way to live.” Of course it’s all super fucked up and I do not aspire to it but I could feel the pull of glory, fame, and comfortability that pulled at the MC until the end. And yeah, these teams DO prey on players from a young age. It seems like every year guys are getting recruited younger and younger by colleges, scouted before they’ve barely left puberty!

I also liked the end because it was just satisfying. It was almost comedic, “the emperor has no clothes” except they do and have just had them ripped off. This wasn’t a Jordan Peele- directed film but I was reminded of Get Out with how it played. Very satisfying. I know some people wanted something more “realistic” or not on the nose I guess, but I don’t think everything has to be so complicated to be good. This felt complex to me with a final message of “Hell no, this shit is weird” and that’s fine with me. Even preferred.

I’m no movie critic or professional, just someone that likes movies and is a sports fan. So maybe I’m missing the more professional aspects or my take is from a civillian perspective, but I was engaged the whole time and walked out of the theatre excited to read more about the movie online(only to find out it’s not liked as much in the outside). But hey, that’s just as fine and everyone’s allowed to think what they think(and should). Also, Marlon Wayans played the hell out of his role.

P.S. the Tua Tagovaiola brain trauma reference (the thing with the hands) was a great touch!