Quadriplegics Re-Invent the Wheel (chair)
Keith Cavill
was hurt in a motocross accident just ten months before Murderball was shot.
Following him around a bit gives the audience more of a feeling as tothe depression, the pain, the adjustingthat happens right after a disabling accident.
Keith Cavill
is there, and shows much interest, asking to sit in the custom made Rugby chair (which looks ancient-Gladiator and modern at the same time).
I feel as though I've talked more about the story behind the movie than the movie itself, but in all honesty, that's how Murderball felt.
After a painful opening sequence with Zupan simply putting on a pair of pants, the disability side of things faded into the background asthe players' personalities came to the forefront,and the Canadian-U.S.A. rivalry was shown in full force. There are moments when the movie dips back and doesn't let you forget you're watching men who have limited mobility. You Too Can Have Sex Again
" learner's video. When they show the men in their day-to-day life. When they introduce Keith.
Like the aforementioned " ass-view
" shot, everything else in Murderball was done with the featured players in mind. The accompanying music is speed metal.
Each man's story is told from his own perspective, rather than the normal wide angle of a documentary.
The tone and color of the movie are gritty, the shots are fast-moving. There's a lot of cutting out from a focused point to eventually see the bigger picture. I was enthralled with Murderball
and found a lot of interesting information, both in the DVD extras, and on the Internet ( what-oh-what did we do before the Internet?
This movie should be on every adult's to-see list. Some harsh language, a few sex bits, and maybe even the brutality of the truth preclude this from child viewing. The only thing that annoyed me with this was the contrived reunion between Zupan and his High School friend who was the unintentional cause of his paralysis. The two hadn't spoken since just after the accident. Though it was an emotional reunion,
it was the only part in the movie where I felt the filmmakers were intentionally tugging on heartstrings to elicit audience sympathy.
【Mark Zupan】 Murderball 【Keith Cavill】 Motivational & High Energy. Many Excellent Extras.
"Murderball" is the rough-and-tumble world of U.S. Wheelchair Quad Rugby, a sport with essentially tank-like wheelchairs, a ball, male pride, and a whole lot of youthful testosterone and adrenaline.. There are no helmets, no shin guards, only speed, determination, and how hard you can slam your chair into your opponent to make them give up the ball/slow them down.....
Murderball
is a stereotype and, therefore, arevery interesting and indeed admirable. We need to see documentaries like it to broaden our understanding of the world, to know that quadriplegics aren'tall taking it lying down. One of the players was a quadruple amputee
and he was purely amazing to watch in action. At the end Team USA visits Walter Reed Hospital for the Iraq war veterans
and I swear those baby-faced kids couldn't have been more than fifteen!! Unfortunately the documentary ends without interviewing any of them. I guess the implication is that they are the future of the sport.
The Special Features have two commentaries by actors, directors and producer that may have helped me out with the ending, but I wasn't interested in them when there was the Larry King Live interview with Team USA that answered my questions..I appreciated the update on Joe Soares who had been fired from coaching Team Canada and was applying to coach Team USA..I'll let you discover how well his application was received.....
Murderball is a difficult movie to forget and you can be guaranteed the same destiny if you choose to view it. I'm not sure what to think of the two jocks, Soares and smart-*ss Mark Zupan.
I was rooting more for Team Canada just because they were the underdogs and not because Zupan seemed too full of himself. So was Soares, although Soares was also a caring father and husband. IKeith Cavill, the newly-disabled, young man and the other charismatic members, Bob Lujaro, Andy Cohan, Scott Hogsett, and Mark's friend Christopher Igoe who lives with the guilt of being the reason Mark was injured.
The soundtrack is jamming, full of " Nu-Metal
" music, I think, but the only one I recognized was the last one that was in the movie, " Eternal Sunshine
" of the Spotless Mind. At only 86 minutes, Murderball
deftly packs in a dramatic sports storyblended with human interestthat lets us get to know the main players well. The ending seemed weak to me and it targeted jocks more than women, but its well worth watching.
What could have been an all around sympathetic day-in-the-life documentary is instead a hard hitting, fast-paced, well done documentary about Olympic Athletes..Who happen to play their sport in a wheelchair......