Any Given Sunday

REVIEW
Stone is the perfect director to capture the visceral intensity of football, the game based on the strategies of armed conflict. This is one of the most successful attempts in taking the viewer inside the action on the field of battle; you can smell the sweat and get the wind knocked out of you with every tackle. The story line is tried and true: grizzled veteran (Quaid) playing through pain, rookie loose cannon (Foxx) rewriting the playbook, second-generation owner (Diaz) making moves in the luxury box, jaded doctor (Woods) basing diagnoses on the needs of management, know-it-all sportswriters and blood-sucking family and friends. And in the center of it all, the coach (Pacino), negotiating between tradition and new blood, steering through excesses on and off the field, attempting to instill a human dimension in an arena where the credo is hit to kill or die hard. Stone's trademark hyper-action is well-served by the ensemble's most effective performances, especially Foxx's accomplished portrayal of hot shot Willie Beaman. The film is physically exhausting to watch and, while not completely successful in imparting a sense of the game's history, serves as an intelligent entertainment. (Director's cut)