Friday Night Lights DVD Review (Billy Bob Thornton) Empire Movies

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS DVD REVIEW

Friday Night Lights
(Universal Studios Home Entertainment)

The Movie

The Extras

Reviewed by

8/10

Liam

I really didn't know what to expect from Friday Night Lights. I knew it was a football movie - or more than that a movie about High School football. I knew that it starred Billy Bob Thornton. I knew that a lot of people liked it - and that some have even called it one of the greatest sports stories ever told. I also knew that it was based on a true story. But what was the story? Well, now thanks to the magic of DVD, I've had the chance to find out.

In the movie, Billy Bob plays Gary Gaines, the coach of the Odessa-Permian Panthers, a high school team in Texas, where apparently football is everything. We follow Coach Gaines and his team through one football season as they attempt to win the Texas State Championship. Pressured by everyone in the community, from parents to teachers to kids to fans, they suffer the ups and downs, they lose their star player to an injury, and still they manage to make it to the championship game where they fight against one of the biggest high school teams you're ever going to see. And what happens? Well, you're going to have to see for yourself to find out.

I will say this. The movie was everything I thought it would be. The action was intense and the story was well told. And, contrary to what I had been told before the movie, I quite enjoyed the characters. From what I'd heard, they were the weakest part of the movie. However these kids, played by Lucas Black (as quarterback Mike Winchell), Garrett Hedlund (as Don Billingsley), Derek Luke (as Boobie Miles) and Jay Hernandez (as Brian Chavez) portrayed their characters quite well and were the heart of the story. It's not about one individual - it's about the team and these guys were the heart of the team. Like the town they live in, you win with them and you lose with them.

There are some nice special features on this DVD. First there a section titled "Action-Packed Deleted Scenes". Allow me to just say that these scenes aren't action-packed - so why they would call them that, I don't know. Instead, I found that these scenes actually served to develop the characters a bit more - again a complaint from people of something that was missing from the movie.

Next, a feature titled "Peter Berg Discusses a Scene in the Movie". Pretty self-explanatory. Peter Berg, the film's director, speaks from the set before doing a reshoot on the film about why he's filming the scene and what it adds to the movie. (I'd like to add here that I think Peter Berg is a great director and I look forward to pretty much every movie he makes.)

A couple of more features include "Player Cam" which goes behind-the-scenes and just shows some of the fun the actors and extras had on the set of the movie and "Tim McGraw: Off the Stage" which features the singer speaking about his first role in a major motion picture as well as interviews with director Berg, producer Brian Grazer and some other members of the cast about what qualities McGraw brought to the character he played.

The disc also features an audio commentary provided by Peter Berg and H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger, who wrote the book that the movie is based on. What's fascinating is that Berg and Bissinger are cousins. This is nice in that these two share a chemistry and make the commentary very easy to listen to.

Saving the best for last, we get "The Story of the 1988 Permian Panthers". In this featurette, we look at the history of this football season, showing actual game footage as well as interviews with the players - both then and now. They then bring together the real Mike Winchell, Don Billingsley and Brian Chavez to sit together and talk about the 1988 season and to throw around the ol' pigskin. A great feature that really supports the reality of the story. Nicely done.

I don't know if I'd call it the greatest sports movie ever made, but it ranks up there. And it's certainly one of the most real sports movies ever made and I'll give credit to the filmmakers for putting it together and to Universal Pictures for having the balls to put it out there.

Features
Deleted Scenes, Tim McGraw: Off the Set Featurette, Player Cam, The Story of the 1988 Permian Panthers

Video
Widescreen (2.35:1)

Audio
English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 2.0, Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0

Subtitles
French, Spanish, Closed-Captioned

Release Date
January 18, 2005

Rating
PG-13

Length
118 mins.

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