Release Date:
Friday, January 27, 2006
Take a cross between Rocky and An Officer and a Gentleman, throw in every cliché from any inspirational sports or military movie you've ever seen, cast it with inexpensive actors, and you've got Annapolis—which really should be retitled Anemic. Disney is unleashing this derivative drama with little fanfare and we can see why. It's Jag without the commercials. Apparently January has become a dumping ground for James Franco movies, as this comes just two weeks after his first '06 train wreck, Tristan and Isolde. (Time for a new agent, pal.) Here the brooding actor extends his patented James Dean imitation to play a tough guy who can only hang on to his Naval Academy spot because of his raw talent as a boxer. Apparently rather than preparing it's cadets to safeguard the world, Annapolis is more interested in grooming fighters for the big Brigades championships. At any rate, the film trots out all the familiar characters we now expect from this kind of flick-by-committee filmmaking: the wise cracking Puerto (Ameri)Rican, the tight ass Asian know-it-all, and the cute chick in Navy chic. They all do their best to utter dialogue, like "when you go into that ring, you have just three rounds to find out who you are, Jake," but where's Sly Stallone when you really need him?