A true-life story of a coach who tries to teach his players that there's more to life than basketball is brought to the screen in this sports drama. Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) was once a star player on the Richmond High School basketball team in Richmond, CA, and years later, he returns to the school and to the team as the new basketball coach. While Carter wants to make the Richmond oilers into a winning team, he also wants a lot more - to teach the boys to respect themselves and one another, and that they must as well excel in the classroom. It is a fact that most of these guys are decent ball players, but are all dealing with some pretty adult issues as young men. Kenyon (Rob Brown) feels like he’s being held back by his pregnant girlfriend Kyra (Ashanti), Timo (Rick Gonzalez) is living the dangerous life alongside his drug-dealing cousin, and Ken’s own son, Damien (Robert Ri’chard), just wants to play for his dad, even if it means leaving the better education that private school St. Francis offers across the tracks.
Ultimately, Coach Carter was the one man that saved these guys from becoming another statistic. He sets strict new rules for the players, insisting that they sign contracts agreeing to meet his standards. They must keep a grade point average of 2.7, wear ties on game days and do other academic skills in order to keep their spot on the team. Some players decide to leave the team. With Carter's intense coaching, the team begins the season undefeated, and wins a holiday tournament. However, Carter discovers that some of his players are not producing the agreed academic results. He locks the team out of the gym in the midst of their still-undefeated season, canceling practice and forfeiting games in favor of studying in the library. The school board eventually votes to end the lockout, despite dissenting votes from the principal and the chairwoman of the board. Carter is about to quit, but he finds the players sitting at school desks in the gym, with teachers tutoring them. The players point out that even though the gym is reopened, the school board can't force them to play. Carter is heartened and decides to stay, thanking the players. The team makes it into the state high-school championship playoffs. The climactic game takes place in the tournament's first round against the #1 ranked team in the state, St. Francis (starring a superstar NBA prospect, Ty Crane). Did they managed to win it? If you want to know the rest, watch the movie yourself!
Ultimately, Coach Carter was the one man that saved these guys from becoming another statistic. He sets strict new rules for the players, insisting that they sign contracts agreeing to meet his standards. They must keep a grade point average of 2.7, wear ties on game days and do other academic skills in order to keep their spot on the team. Some players decide to leave the team. With Carter's intense coaching, the team begins the season undefeated, and wins a holiday tournament. However, Carter discovers that some of his players are not producing the agreed academic results. He locks the team out of the gym in the midst of their still-undefeated season, canceling practice and forfeiting games in favor of studying in the library. The school board eventually votes to end the lockout, despite dissenting votes from the principal and the chairwoman of the board. Carter is about to quit, but he finds the players sitting at school desks in the gym, with teachers tutoring them. The players point out that even though the gym is reopened, the school board can't force them to play. Carter is heartened and decides to stay, thanking the players. The team makes it into the state high-school championship playoffs. The climactic game takes place in the tournament's first round against the #1 ranked team in the state, St. Francis (starring a superstar NBA prospect, Ty Crane). Did they managed to win it? If you want to know the rest, watch the movie yourself!
I can simply conclude this is a great movie with a great message. It teaches us about team spirits and having the strong wills to become a better person. Never give up and give your best in all that you do are obviously stressed on in this movie. There was a scene in the movie where one of the students, Timo Cruz, played by Rick Gonzalez, walks off the team during a practice. When he returns to get back on the team, Carter gives him until Friday to do like 2500 pushups and 1000 suicide laps. This tests Timo a lot, so when Friday comes around and he still owes coach some stuff, the whole team begins helping Timo out. Jason Lyle says to the coach and the team, ''You said we're a team. One person struggles, we all struggle. One person triumphs, we all triumph.'' This shows a great lesson in life.
In 'Coach Carter' we feel moved by some of his speeches or conversations, just how strong they really are is amazing. It's even more amazing though that this is based on the real life of Ken, and how much someone still cares about the school system and the real value of education, it's good to see that someone out there still thinks on the right level of things. The script was written by Mark Schwahn and John Gatins, who must have done a lot of research on Carter in order to get the story right. I really appreciate the way Mark and John approached the movie without being too sympathetic or attempting to make a tear jerker, but more of a study in academic achievements/failures and how one man can change a group of students forever. Thomas Carter never takes the movie too far and I never felt bored of the plot or the characters. The basketball scenes were well invented as well, sometimes I felt like I was actually at one of the games.
'Coach Carter' is an amazing movie, it is definitely one of the best in more recent sports dramas and well worth the watch.
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