The Program

It's 1993 and Lance Armstrong (Ben Foster) is in his first Tour in France. Irish sports journalist David Walsh (Chris O'Dowd) is both following and rooting for the competitive new American wonderboy. After initial losses, he and his teammates start using enhancements. The team starts winning but then he's diagnosed with cancer. After his tiring treatments, he gets help from Dr. Michele Ferrari who is experimenting outside the ethical lines. Bill Stapleton (Lee Pace) organizes the deal with US Postal. Walsh starts to suspect that something is amiss. God-fearing Floyd Landis (Jesse Plemons) is hired to help Armstrong and he takes over after Lance. Betsy Andreu recounts a moment with Armstrong and her husband. Armstrong decides to defend against his detractors by attacking them.

Despite the great actors and solid work, this still has a biopic feel in the structure of the movie. It follows the story faithfully. The truthfulness seems to be there. Ben Foster does nice work inhabiting the role although I'm not sure if it dives into his mind enough. It would be helpful to add something from before his Tour and doping life. Walsh's crusade is more compelling. The second half of the movie is more compelling. It is generally missing the drama and the thrills. I'm also not certain if this gets any special insight into Armstrong's character. It's a functional biopic but the material is ready for much more.

This is the story of Lance Armstrong and is based on the book by journalist David Walsh called "Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong". Walsh worked for The Sunday Times and is played by the brilliant Chris O'Dowd in the film. Walsh was one of the few who questioned the phenomenal rise of Armstrong from mediocre hill climber to King of the mountains and unbeatable in The Tour de France.

Now the story is full of lies and deceit and evil doings and as such you would think it was full of Machiavellian twists – but no; it seems a bit flat to be honest. The story is interesting but seems to lack the oomph moments to bring it to anything approaching a dramatic crescendo.

I think half the problem is that we all know the story by now and so there is not that much to reveal and we have already gotten truly over our initial shock and disgust at what was a crime the perpetuated for years and corrupted so many – so called- athletes. Having said all that I really enjoyed it. Ben Foster puts in an excellent performance as the duplicitous Armstrong and was even convincing in the cancer bits and the double dealing lies. So one that rises from being above 'ok' but do not expect to be blown away.

We pretty much know the story of the biggest con in sports history.

A 7-time Tour De France winner after recovering from quite severe level of testicular cancer, to be then stripped of everything he had ever achieved in the sport of cycling due to the use of performance- enhancing drugs.

With all that being said, what could this movie do to give us something different to be excited about?

We have director Stephen Frears (Philomena, Dirty Pretty Things, The Queen) exploring the biggest rise and fall probably by anyone in the history of the world.

I'm afraid that despite the solid pace to it, good performances and pleasing visuals, this only really skimmed the surface of the entire story.

Ben Foster plays Armstrong and it is quite un-nerving how much his likeness is uncanny to the man himself. He was a strong lead and definitely made this film watchable and interesting. Chris O'Dowd as hounding sports journalist David Walsh was solid. But I felt he was massively under-used. I think the makers of the film could have better by going down the route 'Rush' did by having two big characters facing-off throughout the feature. All the performances were fine and noticeable in terms of down- grading the film. The only stand-out worth mentioning was Jesse Plemon's portrayal of Armstrong's main team- mate Floyd Landis. He had moments that got me engaged and made it interesting viewing. One casting choice that I was confused about, was the addition of Dustin Hoffman as we see very little of him. Someone that big in the film industry should not be part of a film if he is going to be in there for very short amounts.

The race scenes look well made. Cinematography is a big high point in the film, especially in the opening scene. And finally, the soundtrack fits in the well with the story despite not being quite a captivating one for re-listening.

However, I cannot ignore the safe route this film went. It always went over the important issues quite casually and quickly went on the next one. It seems Frears wanted to throw too much into film and forgot to focus on keeping one angle to the story. I really felt we should have seen more of the journalist pursuing the star type of film which would have made it a great and enjoyable watch.

Connecting to the film was hard as well. It reminded me of The Wolf Of Wall Street as we are trying to connect with a guy we know has bone really bad things. But unlike the Martin Scorsese flick, the style of film-making is nothing remarkable, just passable.

It is still a well-acted drama flick. For those people that don't know a lot about the story, they will get the most enjoyment out of it. But if you want to a good film about Lance Armstrong and how he became the man he is today, watch the two film documentaries 'The Armstrong Lie' and 'Stop At Nothing: The Lance Armstrong Story'. They both go into much more detail on how big of an idiot Armstrong is.

I have been really surprised by the number of negative reviews of this movie. I've never really been a fan of cycling or the Tour De France, but I was always fascinated in how Lance Armstrong was able to cheat his way to 7 tour victories. And I think Stephen Frears has done a superb job of explaining the lengths Armstrong and his team mates went to,to beat the testers. Ben Foster is superb as Armstrong to the point I almost felt it was him, whilst Chris O Dowd is equally believable as the much maligned journalist who always new the truth. One of the best sports movies in recent memory 8/10

Cyclist Lance Armstrong is a liar. An egomaniac. A delusional celebrity. A jerk. But he's also a cancer survivor and was an inspiration to thousands before the house of cards eventually came tumbling down. In The Program, director Stephen Fears (The Queen, Philomena) explores Armstrong's rise to fame through his historic seven Tour de France victories and the investigation into doping that eventually lead to his downfall. Ben Foster (Lone Survivor, The Mechanic) plays Armstrong. The likeness is a bit uncanny. We watch as a young Armstrong heads to France for the first time as a young cycler who couldn't keep up with the European teams that were eventually caught doping. Armstrong is so determined to become the best in the sport that he solicits the help of known dope doctor Michele Ferrari (Guillaume Canet). But when Armstrong is diagnosed with testicular cancer, the career takes a small backstep during his recovery. The sidelines made Armstrong even more determined and within a year he and Ferrari were testing new drugs and new methods of cheating which including blood doping – the injection of oxygenated blood into an athlete before an event in an attempt to enhance athletic performance. The results were outstanding and Armstrong was not only beating the competition but destroying them. This catches the eye of sports reporter David Walsh (Chris O'Dowd) who is convinced that Armstrong is less the Superman that people make him out to be and more the product of good chemistry and science. But Walsh is alone in his pursuit of the truth. His publisher is skeptical and his peers alienate Walsh after Armstrong uses his celebrity power to sue and alienate all those associated with a reveal of the truth. Enter one, Floyd Landis (Jesse Plemons of Breaking Bad fame). Floyd is a wide-eyed teammate of Armstrong who immediately tows the line and dopes in an effort to maintain his place within the team. But when Floyd is revealed to have doped after a failed drug test, the wheels begin to come off the Armstrong entourage. Floyd is conflicted with his past and eventually comes clean with the media which only further drops Armstrong's star. The film ends with Armstrong's famous Oprah Winfrey interview where he reveals that he lied and cheated during all 7 Tour wins. The Program is a showcase for Foster who is spectacular in the lead role. O'Dowd too is impressive as the hounding reporter. But the film as a whole fails to do much else than skim the surface. The documentary The Armstrong Lie goes into detail on just how big of an asshole Armstrong was. He threatened wives of teammates calling them 'whores' and 'drunks' on record. He threatened and sued newspapers, lied while being a guest speaker at many black tie events and misrepresented his own charity. The Program only slightly details these facts. It casually brings them up or has quick scenes showing the depth of Armstrong's depravity. But Fears throws too much into the film without focusing on one story. He could have focused on Armstrong's deplorable character. Or made the film a reporters pursuit of the truth. Instead the kitchen sink of a very detailed story is thrown at viewers and it fails to resonate in a way that it should. Armstrong was a fraud. The entire world was duped and we should be angry and reminded of that anger during this biopic. Instead we get more of a movie-of-the-week style of film that fails to dive deep into the conspiracy and show all the scars left in its wake. Still, for those not fully up-to-date in the Armstrong story, The Program is a well-acted entry into the rise and fall. It's just a very involving one.