New Film Review: Concussion

CONCUSSION
Director Peter Landesman
Screenplay by Peter Landesman
Based on a GQ article by Jeanne Marie Laskas
Starring Will Smith; Albert Brooks; Alec Baldwin; Davis Morse and Gugu Mbatha Raw



In Pittsburgh, accomplished pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu (Smith) uncovers the truth about brain damage in football players who suffer repeated concussions in the course of normal play.

Well. It is well acted. Let me start there.
Will Smith as Dr Omalu. He gives a great performance worthy of Oscar consideration. He accent throws you off in the beginning, but after the film gets rolling you find you adapt to it. He is brilliant here. Passionate.
Albert Brooks. Also very good as Dr Wecht. Mentor of Dr Omalu. He does a wonderful job at showing Dr Omalu the ways of the country...and how to get your point across without doors shutting in your face. He is so on top of his game here.
David Morse. As Mike Webster. He is on the screen maybe for 10 minutes and may have given his best performance of his career.
Alec Baldwin as Mike Webster's Dr.. He is driven by guilt. For not detecting the brain issues of Webster. Sometimes I think Hollywood and the public have trouble separating Baldwin's wacky life and his acting career. He is one of the finest actors working today....see this and Still Alice, and Rogue Nation.
 Gugu Mbatha Raw as Prema, Dr Omalu's wife. She really does not have much to do here which is a shame, she is a very good actress, see Belle.

Now we come to the screenplay and this is where problems start.
There is a disconnect here. It pretty much is a film about trying to get a big organization to admit there is a problem with the health and welfare of many of their employees. There really is not much of a story. So Dr Omalu discovers the cause and the NFL does not want to listen.
Problem here is we never see the other side, we never see their strategy of denial. The movie would work better if they took us into the NFL offices and watch how they try to get out of this. The film constantly speculates what the NFL is doing. We just see the results, that now in the NFL they have constant concussion tests. It would be more interesting watching behind the scenes.
While watching I thought a couple of things:
-This would have been better as a documentary with interviews with the real Dr Omalu and maybe an inside source on the NFL. Also with a look into ESPN..who are as guilty as the NFL here by showing their hard helmet to helmet hits and laughing live.
-Spread this out a little more. How about Hockey. In Philadelphia one of the biggest stars in hockey Eric Lindros was taken from the game. See he was huge on skates and other teams realized the only way to stop him was taking him out of the game. Hits to the head. After many concussions he had to stop. Then, the fans being uneducated at the time about head injuries (Like in this movie), pummeled Eric with boos and rants, stating he was no longer tough. He was big baby. This story falls right in line with the Concussion story.
I am not dissing Dr Omalu. He is a hero. He also may have saved many a life. It is an important topic for books and documentaries. However here as a movie....there seems to be missing elements. 3 out of 5 stars for Concussion. May be best to wait for home viewing.

As always from the shadows thanks for your time