‘Unstoppable’ Review: Jennifer Lopez & Jharrel Jerome Wrestle With The Odds Against Them In Inspiring True Story – Toronto Film Festival
deadline.comIt has almost gotten to the point where inspiring sports stories become a parody of themselves, so overrun is the genre with every conceivable variation.
But with Unstoppable (not to be confused with the 2004 Wesley Snipes movie or the 2010 Denzel Washington one),you really can’t compare it to anything that has come before, either in terms of what the main subject has achieved in athletics or the obstacles he had to overcome at home.
The film is based on Anthony Robles’ autobiography, and debuting director and Oscar-winning Argo editor William Goldenberg and his team of screenwriters (Eric Champnella & Alex Harris and John HIndman) have accomplished is a nifty balancing act between the harrowing home life of Robles with an abusive stepfather and his extraordinary ability to succeed in wrestling despite having only one leg, an impairment with which he was born.
I am not sure in watching this film what was harder to overcome, but I am guessing it’s the domestic situation. He and his mother Judy (Jennifer Lopez in a dynamic screen turn) had to endure against all odds as his stepdad Rich (Bobby Cannavale) lays it on, not only putting him down but physically threatening actions that turn this film not just as a study in sports bravery but also surviving domestic abuse.
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