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(More customer reviews)No one can accuse Oliver Stone of being original. In 1987's Wall Street he took the age old story of a youngster being seduced by money and power and turned into one of the most scathing attacks on heartless Capitalism. So predictably Any Given Sunday doesn't really have anything new to say, just a lot of old things to shout.
One negative review of the film said "Stone directs like a deranged rooftop sniper". And with full frontal nudity, severed eyeballs on the feild and a general air of violent intensity it is clear that the film is excessive. But that is also why it works. Stone manages to give the viewer that voyeuristic delight of a peeping tom who's only allowed to look at something for two seconds before he pulls the camera away. As he did with JFK and NIXON, Stone uses every camera angle concievable, but unlike those two films Any Given Sunday never really becomes a flawless whole.
The film tells the story of the Miami Sharks head coach Tony D'amato(Al Pacino looking very angry). His team is on a losing streak, his quarterback(Dennis Qauid) is injured and is replaced by the talented but ego-centric Willie Beaman (Jamie Foxx), who according to D'amato "may sell a lot of T-shirts but is ripping the team apart". Now D'amato has got to battle this kid, the greedy ice cold team owner (Cameron Diaz) and a corrupt team doctor who lets injured players on the field despite fatal risks and then justifies it to himself with twisted morality(James Woods). The scenes between these four principles are stunning, and even there Stone refuses to let the camera sit still. It might have been a wiser descision to tone down the off-field scenes.
Any Given Sunday may seem from its reviews as a tradional sports movie, with the big game ending and bonding theme. While it has those, it far too cynical and ambitious to be just about that. Just incase you don't get it, Stone gives you images of Ben Hur (Football as the modern Gladiator arena) and even casts Charlton Heston as the league comissioner. And ofcourse you get the prescribed dose of anti-consumerism ranting.
In final analysis, Any Given Sunday is not a great film or a historical achievement. But its frequently inspired, always fixating and exhausting. When it hits, it hits very hard.
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Life is a contact sport and football is life when three-time academy award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone and a dynamic acting ensemble explore the fortunes of the Miami Sharks in Any Given Sunday. At the 50-year line of this gridiron cosmos is Al Pacino as Tony D'Amato, the embattled Sharks coach facing a full-on blitz of team strife plus a new, marketing-savvy sharks owner (Cameron Diaz) who's sure Tony is way too old school. An injured quarterback (Dennis Quaid), a flashy, bull-headed backup QB (Jamie Foxx), a slithery team doctor (James Woods) and a running back with an incentive-laden contract (LL Cool J) also provide some of the stories that zigzag like diagrams in a playbook. and throughout, there's the awesome spectacle of motion, sound and action orchestrated by Stone.
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