My Review of "Greater"

Greater is a sports movie that came out in 2016. I would have thought I'd heard of this one since I love sports movies but it somehow slipped my radar. It's got an interesting method in story telling and ultimately has a lot of great messages. I've never heard of Brandon Burlsworth but I was about to get a crash course about his life.

The movie starts off in a more somber note. It's actually the funeral for Brandon Burlsworth. Immediately I'm a little taken aback at the fact that this movie isn't going the way I thought it would. The movie is told through the perspective of his older brother Marty. At least his recounts of Brandon's life.

Marty is obviously distraught at the sudden loss of his younger brother. In the beginning you I wasn't sure if he was that close with his brother but this gets rectified pretty quickly.

I like how they told the story this way. As an outsider looking in I don't really have any clue where this movie is going. Most of the story telling actually helps Marty grieve for his lost brother. His recounts are in full detail for us to understand what kind of person Brandon was.

In Marty's perspective it looks like Brandon was a saint. He may have well been but this movie really pushes how great a person he was. It's really hard to believe a selfless driven person like Brandon truly existed.

From an early age Brandon had an uphill battle to reach for his aspirations to play for the Arizona Razorbacks. I thought it was wild that he would only have aspirations to just be able to play for the college team. Then again everyone around him is telling him it's a wild dream. Everyone that is except for his mother.

His family although broken are a big integral part in his push to become a football player. The amount of sacrifice and belief in him is truly heartwarming especially when they lay down the facts about people making on the team.

What Brandon lacked in natural talent he had in hard work and determination. He's able to outwork everyone at the college and his gumption eventually becomes contagious. It really is a feel good movie by the last half of the movie.

There's also a fair amount of the movie dedicated to how Brandon and others were able to use religion to help them keep faith that they were on the right path. A recurring theme was that character is something that you do when no one is looking. Brandon retorts that someone is always looking. It really helped them keep their trust in each other and their method of winning.

Before this movie I had never known someone like this even existed let alone his impact in Arizona. How could someone so normal become so great? I guess that's part of the relatability of this movie. We can all see a little of us in Brandon however most of us choose the wrong path.

The drive of someone like Brandon is very extraordinary. To become focused and doing the right thing can seem like an impossible task. He was able to do this and influence others to do the same. There's so many of us that have been given advice and just brushed it off. This kid basically took all those life lessons to heart and used them to propel himself to become a better person. He was focused but could see a bigger picture.

It would have been great if he hadn't had such a tragic ending to his life. Speaking of tragedy, the way they set up this movie was actually pretty smart. They lead this movie with a funeral so we all know he's going to ultimately die at the end. Since I didn't know about Brandon's story I didn't know when he died. The filmmakers were able to keep me guessing when he was going to die. They'd do these odd slowdowns making me think he was about to die but then he lives and the process is repeated. It drove me nuts but also at the edge of the seat at the same time.

Overall, this was truly an inspiring story that really picked up in the last half of the movie. The first half of the movie can feel a bit hokey because they're just describing his tough life. It does get better and you'll be in for a fun ride. That's why I have to give this movie a 7 out of 10. People that love sports movies will have a good time with this one.