Crooked Arrows

The potential was there, ruined by weak dialog formulas, poor character development using 80's cheesy hero meets heroine hard to get rot as something that adds cultural depth, really? Then it turns into a lacrosse movie with script and scenes clearly someone lacking sports background of any kind, felt like one of those terrible after school specials of 1980's.

If you can survive the terrible direction, script & dialog, some good touchstones of Native American Indian Tribal Peoples are within, but felt belittled by unfocused script, unforced errors, and poor acting/direction by the 2 primary love interest characters especially (never saw either before nor since, so must not have been just me).

Of all people politically of Our Founding Fathers and early days referenced, choosing Ben Franklin to make 'the Bogey Man' of whites shows intent with the producers and/or director... Ben Franklin wanted to coexist with Native American Indian Tribal Peoples, not be at war at all... in part, his desire to make the turkey a focal point in colonial communities was to domestically cultivate turkey like chickens to take focus off killing bison, which involved violating Native American Indian Tribal Land Boundaries...Turkey cultivation would alleviate the pressure on white men hunting illegally on tribal lands, helping to keep the peace.

So omitting such fools as Custer and Andrew Jackson as easy and actual Bogey Men may seem 'edgy' to pick on Ben Franklin, but it revealed the hand of influence on script and final product had a propaganda agenda more than making a quality movie as their priority.

Sadly the fact throughout, painting Native American Indian Tribal Peoples as emotionally and intellectually stunted, prone to war and poorly educated subliminally in half the scenes (80's movies especially did that narrating white suburban teens and young adults, hyping cultural identity clashes, but a 2012 movie should know better than to paint a tribal communities as a monolith of immature malcontents and poorly informed as a whole, needing a half white metrosexual oiled male model to save their village?

I'm white, and that's a subliminal formula that whites are the saviors... Gandhi, Tutu, Mandela, Confucius, Douglas, MLK...long list of non-white amazing noble & benevolent humans that stood up to England's Royal Family, The Last of the Roman Empire...who Our Founding Fathers only defeated BECAUSE OF Ben Franklin.

It was England's failed policies regarding Native American Indian Tribal peoples in the first place that caused the problems, seeing the indigenous peoples as "non-human" without Magna Carta rights, so no, if Ben Franklin remained loyal to Royal Family, we were going to be a UK colony to this day (do your research; I'm not joking...WW Brand, The First American, explains quite well), in which case, our current caste system of implied race privilege would be fully anchored by CAUCASIAN Royal Family mandates, placing tribal communities as 'primates' per their terms, meaning NO LAND RIGHTS AT ALL, NO TREATIES.

So this Ben Franklin slip is reflective of that Rupert Murdoch Mossad subliminal messaging to keep America stumbling.

And it shows throughout, plodding through scenes of fabricated controversies that belittle the real controversies.

The reviews going more than 7 (if you're Native American Indian AND love lacrosse, your personal connection might cause momentary lapse of reason to be generous, but even with such deep connection, no way a sane human goes 8+ on this trainwreck, and a 10?! There are a few '10' movies, perhaps 200 tops '10' ranked flicks ever made. They are the litmus.

This movie is well below half of a '10' score, and I'm being generous for mostly just recognition of Native American Indian Tribal Peoples.

I'm just not so sure bad movies about important topics help, so 4 feels generous to be honest.

It's like if you run a real business in the real world, then go home watching American Apprentice TV show... Dump's Tv show had very little resemblance to reality how business works.. being further evidence they knew nothing about the subject matter (the premise of looking for 'who to fire!' until you're down to just one means your company is by design happy about high turnover so a megalomaniac narcissist can fire employees would result in a company resembling the magaclown show we just witnessed still hanging around like a bad wart that won't go away.).

Just too many mistakes by choice on script and dialogue to go higher for me.

"Crooked Arrows" is one of those movies that even if you know almost nothing about the sport of Lacrosse you get involved in the game so much so that you might just find yourself yelling at the screen and that is part of "The Formula" that works so very well for movies about sports.

BUT

If you start watching this movie thinking that "The Formula" is all there is to it, get prepared for a BIG Wake-up call.

This movie has managed to twist Native culture, Traditions, History and even Language all together so expertly that you are not only being entertained but being educated at the same time.

Saying that this movie is an emotional roller coaster would be akin to saying that Tecumseh was a great warrior. Both are major understatements.

I'm not going to give anything away here because I really believe that potential viewers should just watch and ENJOY this movie from start to finish without knowing more than what is in the synopsis.

Probably the biggest compliment I can pay the movie is by saying, "I'm Dave Furlotte and I'm a Crooked Arrow."

Of course this is a formula. It's different from the other movies about bad sports teams miraculously getting better because it also includes lessons about Native American culture. And it's about lacrosse, which is one of the less familiar sports. I live next door to a college where lacrosse is a big deal, and yet even I don't know much because I don't even care about sports. Still, this movie appeared to do a good job of showing how the game is played.

And then there are the lessons about Native American culture. Once the movie gets past the obligatory "Injun" jokes, some of them in the casino, the fictional Sunaquot tribe is treated with respect and I assume the customs shown or described are accurate.

The standout performer here is Chelsea Ricketts. As the half-Sunaquot daughter of the former coach (once Joe takes over) who also acts as assistant coach and is a student as well, she has so much enthusiasm and determination and can bark orders like any man. If anyone can inspire this team to victory, she can.

Crystal Allen does a good job in a role typical of movies like this,. She is pretty, intelligent and determined and will not let her ex renew his relationship with her until earns it.

I have never seen Brandon Routh as Superman but I want to. Mostly I know him from what is called the Arrowverse, a group of CW network TV series that have crossover events, where he is more of a Clark Kent type than a hero. Here, he is neither of those and one would never guess this is a man who will be a respected actor and play Superman. Joe just doesn't seem to care, and even when he finally does, Routh's performance is merely adequate. There is good writing, but Routh only manages to challenge himself when the situation calls for it, and you wonder what inspired this team.

Dennis Ambriz is the answer. The tribal elder is an old man but he is tough and won't accept anything but excellence from the students he is teaching about their heritage. Like so many actors playing Native Americans, he is dignified but sort of lacks personality.

Kakaionstha Betty Deer is Joe's grandmother and spiritual leader. She's traditional but also cool, and also comic relief.

The team eventually attracts the attention of ESPN and the man who calls the game does quite a professional job. This is in stark contrast to the radio announcer for most of the games, who isn't very good and doesn't seem to care.

I've seen better performances from actors playing athletes in movies like this. No one else approaches the level of Nadie. Tyler Hill as Jimmy comes close but never really makes us notice him, other than as maybe comic relief.

There are different types of coaches. I don't know his name from looking at the credits but Coventry's coach believes in winning at all costs and if you can't do it he'll find someone who can and forget the rules.. He doesn't have this problem when his team first appears, but you can bet he will later. Isn't that what usually happens?

And Mr. Geyer is also your typical villain.

I guess loud rock music is necessary in a movie about male high school athletes. I could have done without it. One of the less annoying songs, "Tubthumping" by Chumbawamba, gets a Native American flute added to it, which is nice. There is some music with a Native American sound or at least influence. I suppose I like the more traditional music.

Talk about global warming! The time of year is not mentioned except that the deadline for starting work on the casino is the day after Memorial Day. But this is New York state and it is mentioned that the events at the start of the movie took place several months earlier. And yet in every scene outdoors but one Nadie and the other girls are not wearing much. But they do look good.

Is this family friendly? The sound went out a lot and I don't know what words had to be removed. Even after that, there were a couple of scenes I wouldn't recommend to kids. But it's not too bad. I the locker room, one guy apparently wasn't covered except by what was put there by the censors, and Nadie and Grandma should have knocked first. Yes, we do get to laugh from time to time.

Stay around for the credits. I'm not sure what was taking place but Coventry's #15, who is white, does a rap and there is a video involving cast members, who seem to be having a good time and are no longer enemies. Later, it just appears the cast members are having a good time. I was assuming these were real people whose lives were depicted, but a group of man each saying "I'm a Crooked Arrow" were just fans. The credits do say this is fiction.

I think it's worth seeing, even though I've seen better.

My husband, my cousin and I really loved this movie. Being native we especially enjoyed the cultural aspects that we know so well. The music was very familiar to us. We are happy that all people will have a chance to enjoy the wonderful story, fabulous acting, and beautiful scenery. This is definitely a feel good movie for all. I am looking forward to buying it when it comes out on DVD. I would show it to my class. There are so many things that they could learn from this movie. I am also sure that my students and all movie goers can relate to the relationships and other aspects of the story. I hope everyone goes to see this movie. There is something for everyone to enjoy. Enjoy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Clunky acting and an unbelievably predictable plot