The Boys in the Boat

The Boys in the Boat harkens back to a very specific type of movie I remember from my youth: The vaguely educational, over-the-top inspirational "based on a true story" sports movie that a teacher would throw on when they were hungover. The movies all adhered to a very strict formula, but they were pleasant to watch, funny in parts and beat the hell out of whatever else was supposed to be going on that day. Wearing his heart on his sleeve, George Clooney goes all out on his direction for The Boys in the Boat. He wants to tug at the audience's heartstrings and he does so with aplomb. He doesn't hold back. The movie wants to be a grand, old-fashioned movie drenched in emotions, and he goes for it without being hindered by subtlety.

The film tells the incredible true story of a group of underdogs in 1936 during the height of the Great Depression. These men would go on to conquer seemingly insurmountable odds by beating the best rowing teams in the world at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, in the epicenter of a world gone mad, as Adolf Hitler and his Nazi goons spectate the event. We follow Joe Rantz (Callum Turner, who would also take on the Nazis in Masters of the Air), on his journey from struggling, homeless college student, to world-class athlete, who only joined the team to have a place to live, some food to eat and some extra spending cash. It's impossible to dislike a hardscrabble character origin story like this, someone for whom no aspect of life has come easy, who wants to go on and do something extraordinary, in spite of the odds stacked against them.

The always-reliable Joel Edgerton plays Al Ulbrickson, the coach of the University of Washington rowing team. The film wisely eschews some of the more frustrating character cliches these coach characters generally have and focuses, instead, on his good qualities. He's a tough coach, sure, but an understanding person who makes hard decisions with confidence. He also gets the best out of his team by encouraging them. 

With a movie like The Boys in the Boat, you know exactly what you're getting, and that's why you're there. You want to see the titular boys of the boat encounter conflict that seems just about impossible to overcome. Still, they, as a team, under the leadership of their coach, overcome these obstacles again and again. All the while, the music swells, there are close-ups of rowers gritting their teeth and struggling, and they just barely win, by a nose.

Honestly, I'm a sucker for these kinds of movies, so when The Boys in the Boat works, it works very well. Clooney puts all of his heart into this movie and it toes the line between corny and sincere with an admirable amount of delicacy. Clooney isn't afraid to go over the top, and he shouldn't be. The problem is that The Boys in the Boat is frequently boring. A movie like this is only as good as the camaraderie between its team members, and in that regard, The Boys in the Boat is frustratingly lacking. For a two-hour-long movie (which is too long by about 20 minutes), there's not nearly enough of these boys building rapport and getting to know each other. Too much time is spent showing Rantz waxing a boat and talking about struggles in a metaphor to the team's racing-shell builder.

For a movie about a team of underdogs who became the best-of-the-best and took on the Nazis, during the great depression, it feels surprisingly lifeless during those big moments. Still, the film is well made and I appreciated what it went for. I admired its commitment, its fearlessness, and its dedication to a stubbornly old-fashioned period piece. It just could have been so much more.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray
The Boys in the Boat rows onto Blu-ray as a single disc with digital release. The movie is pressed on a Region Free BD-50 disc and is housed in a standard case with an identical slipcover. The disc loads to a standard main menu with traditional navigation options. 

The Boys in the Boat sports an absolutely gorgeous video transfer in 1080p HD. I screened the film on a Samsung S90C OLED TV, and at one point I brought up the options to make sure Warner Bros. didn't make a mistake and accidentally send me a 4K UHD Blu-ray, instead. Nope! The 1080p HD presentation is top-notch stuff and looks incredible. The cinematography, courtesy of Martin Ruhe, is bathed in golden sunlight. The 1930s period set design and costuming blooms with color in reds, pinks, yellows and the blue water that the rowing team slices through. Though The Boys in the Boat was shot digitally, it does a good job at emulating a movie shot on film, as there is grain apparent in many of the shots, and the extra-wide aspect ratio (2.39:1.) helps it feel appropriately epic.

The Dolby Atmos-True HD sound mix for The Boys in the Boat is by no measure a bad sound mix, and it does the job, but this Atmos mix is almost indistinguishable from a standard 5.1 surround sound mix. There's virtually no overhead activity, effects relegated to the rear speakers are few and far between (there are some cheers from a crowd, water splashing effects), and are mostly used for Alexandre Desplat's emotional score.

What does exist in the mix is stacked very well. The dialogue is always favored and never gets lost in an overwhelming score. The Boys in the Boat is a very talky picture, so priority favors the dialogue. You'll find great use of LFE in this mix, particularly during competition sequences, where the rowing oars THUMP and the subwoofer simulate the impact against the wood. The musical score, however, was a bit too bass-heavy and I had to lower my subwoofer by a couple of clicks. I don't tend to have problems with overpowering bass in many movies, but once I lowered it, I had no complaints. 

No special features are to be found on the Blu-ray release of The Boys in the Boat, which is a shame because the story is a good one, and it would have been neat to have a short supplement or featurette that discusses the nonfiction book by Daniel James Brown that the film is based on.

The Boys in the Boat is a decently made, old-school sports flick that courts shameless cheesiness with delicate grace. While the good moments in the film are quite good, it unfortunately can't sustain it through its entire run time and there are a number of second-act doldrums that set in.

The video transfer is quite good, and about as good as any 1080p Blu-ray is going to look. The Dolby Atmos soundtrack mix is overkill for the lack of ambient effects, and the surround sound is used almost exclusively for the musical score (outside of a few scenes with cheering crowds and competitions where other teams' boats go behind the camera). This disc, sadly, lacks any special features. The Boys in the Boat swings for the fences, and while it doesn't quite knock it out of the park, it's an admirable job, and given the excellent video quality, this disc comes Recommended.

Order Your Copy of The Boys in the Boad on Blu-ray