Tn the Matt Damon and Ben Affleck-produced wrestling drama Unstoppable, there are references throughout that suggest those involved are well aware of the archetypes that define and often plague the sports film genre. The main character has a Rocky poster in his room, and we twice see him climb the historic steps from the series for inspiration. A high school coach is mocked for using speech cliches in an important educational situation. A college coach is lampooned for his overuse of mythical fables as motivational tools. But mostly the film, which premiered at the crowd-friendly Toronto Film Festival, is content to be as bland and trite as the many, many against-all-odds crowd-pleasers before it.
The true story of successful wrestler Anthony Robles, born with one leg to a young mother struggling through life, is equipped with the light storytelling we naturally expect but can only be surpassed by the film letting its peculiarities shine through. Movies about wrestling are few and far between, something Unstoppable often explains outright, especially during the wrestling matches, which are mildly engaging at best, but the details and difficulties of a less-explored world also give the film a peculiarity it desperately needs. Robles is anxiously aware of the limits imposed on him by his passion, regardless of his physical condition, a sport that doesn’t give you many, if any, options after college. It lends his dream an urgency, if not now, then never, and a sad awareness that even if he succeeds, he’ll likely spend his life afterward doing work he never wanted, with anywhere near the same intensity.
Robles is played by Jharrel Jerome, an actor who broke out in the second chapter of Moonlight before winning an Emmy for When They See Us. He’s spurred on by the unwavering support of his coach (Michael Peña) and mother (Jennifer Lopez), but without much financial backing, his next steps are limited and so the hunt for a scholarship begins. He’s received a single offer, albeit from a college with no wrestling experience, and he’s afraid of feeling pressured to accept anything instead of nothing. Instead, he competes for a spot in Arizona, under the eye of another, stricter coach (Don Cheadle), while trying to keep his family together, at the mercy of an abusive stepfather (Bobby Cannavale, believably loathsome).
The film comes from the production company Artists Equity, founded by Damon and Affleck, and follows their other sports drama, the Nike story Air. Like that film, it’s written with an awareness of the finances at play in the industry and the fact that some athletes rely on support to succeed. Here, Affleck didn’t direct, instead enlisting his longtime editor William Goldenberg, who is making his debut as a filmmaker, but it’s an uninspiring career twist, because the Amazon film feels just as flat and unfussy as most streaming productions from the series. If the script, based on Robles’ 2012 book, doesn’t focus on the film’s more compelling specifics, it’s just as routine, content to showcase cliches both at home and on the wrestling floor.
With dialogue mostly banal, it’s then up to the actors to do the really heavy lifting, and Jerome is more than up for the task. It’s a relentless physical feat, the actor having to exercise and contort his body in new, far more strenuous ways to make us believe he doesn’t have a leg, and we’re always completely convinced (a standout scene in which he takes a tough uphill hike is made powerful by his believably exhausted determination). Lopez is an actress who has regrettably chosen not to challenge herself even remotely since she delivered her most expressive performance yet in 2019’s impressive Toronto premiere of Hustlers. Successful but sloppy streaming trash like Shotgun Wedding or this summer’s weak Netflix thriller Atlas have made us forget what she can do with more grounded material. It’s an unusual supporting role for the star, but she has guts and a warm motherliness that add depth to family scenes that often feel a little mechanical. Cheadle is always reliable and also manages to make something of what little he’s given, and the pair work well with Jerome as differently modulated supporting characters.
Although Robles stresses throughout that he doesn’t want pity, the film relies a little too heavily on emotional manipulation, not helped by a cheesy soft-rock score, to make us believe in and care about his journey. Robles isn’t hard to root for, but Unstoppable, a stirring but over-the-top biopic, tries too hard to get us there anyway.
