Annapolis

Not the city where the Naval Academy resides, but rather the movie.

The bad movie.  The bad movie that I watched while I was on vacation.  Oh, a foolish move if ever there were one.  I can imagine the pitch meeting for this movie went something like this:

Movie guy: Hey, we’ve got James Franco and Tyrese Gibson for this new movie.  What should it be about?

Other guy: Let’s make a boxing movie, so we can get maximum shirt off time for the two hot guys.  That’ll bring the ladies in.

Movie guy: Good idea.  Now, what’s the most improbable setting for a boxing movie?

Other guy: Outer space?

Movie guy: No, no, something better than.  Somewhere we can throw out some tired generalizations and stereotypes, as well as get facts completely wrong and misrepresent a large group of people?

Other guy: How about the Naval Acadmey?

Movie guy: Brilliant!

Some things they did well.  Some things.  It was fun watching plebes spew indoc, and hit the bulkhead for fives before the meal, but the fun I had from watching two experiences I vividly remember from the Coast Guard Academy couldn’t overcome the glaring inaccuracies, bad writing, and other problems the movie had.  I think the biggest part that didn’t stick well with me was the budding romance between a 2nd Class Midshipman (junior) and the main character who is a 4th Class, or Plebe Midshipman.  That sort of relationship is a serious no-no; since the 2nd Class Middie is portrayed as a hardass, it just seemed forced and improbable.  The other big beef I had was how one of the other plebe cadets was portrayed.  In the movie, this guy narcs on his classmate to an upperclassman about what amounted to a trivial issue.  His classmate gets punted from the Academy as a result.  What bugged me is that the guy who did the telling is portrayed as the locked-on superstar, and beloved by his classmates.  That really bugged me, because (generally) that sort of slashmate activity was considered uncool.  Maybe the Academy has changed, but when I was there, you didn’t tell on your classmates – you were supposed to be a team.  People who did that were usually spurned.

Anyway, don’t waste your time.  I saw it for free, so it didn’t cost me anything other than 2 hours of my life that I could have spent watching Silverado for the 20th time.

3 Comments

  1. What kind of trivial matter could get someone kicked out of the academy? (I haven’t seen the movie, but have heard of its reputation.)

    As I remember it, the trailer for Annapolis never showed boxing. It showed ships blowing up and fighter aircraft. It was a kind of bait and switch.

  2. In the movie, a racist upperclassman was making a plebe take midnight showers because mexicans are stinky or something stupid like that. Anyway, one night the plebe skips his shower, but that morning the upperclassman says that he “doesn’t stink anymore, and midnight showers are over”.

    The showering plebe’s classmate then goes and tells on him to the upperclassman, so he got punted for lying.

    The only time it would be acceptable to turn your classmate in would be if they had done something that was actually, you know, bad; and then you never went alone, you always go in a group.

  3. Yep, you’re right! It sure would get the ladies to watch a film with Mr.Franco & Mr.Gibson in the Naval Academy & boxing! I don’t know HOW many times I watched it but those 2 are VERY appealing! (IMO) I don’t like inaccuracies in film either but you forget all about it when you have those 2 up on the screen!

Comments are closed.