(2006)
2
Derek Armstrong
With all the clichés of a military training movie and all the clichés of a boxing movie rolled into one, Annapolis has something trite for everyone. James Franco's Naval Academy cadet is a defiant rule-breaker for one reason and one reason only: this type of movies demands it. The choice doesn't make sense for his character in particular, who made it in off the waiting list, and would logically be happy just to be there. But ever since Paul Newman's Luke Jackson ate 50 eggs, cinema has been offering up rebellious antiheroes who fight whatever rigid system they happen to be part of. Franco's Jake Huard is another tired example of that trend. If structuring this film as a series of head-butting episodes with military superiors weren't conventional enough, Annapolis must also be a highly conventional boxing movie, complete with all the training sequences you'd expect, which are in addition to all the military training sequences the rest of the movie offers up. Jordana Brewster appears as the film's next most predictable character, the tough chick who outranks the hero, playfully clashes with him, trains him, and falls for him. So, what do you think are the odds that Jake might patch things up with his disappointed dad by the end of the movie? Director Justin Lin seems deathly afraid of offending anyone here -- for every race that's represented among the cadets, there's one saintly example of that race, and one villainous example. Yet the film's racial politics manage to feel icky anyway, as Jake's primary antagonist is an older cadet played by African-American actor Tyrese Gibson, Jake's rival in the ring, who spends most of the movie snarling and snorting like a bull. Annapolis is a film on standard operating procedure, whose originality is absent without leave.
Annapolis on AllMovie
Annapolis (2006)
