Foxcatcher (2015)

"Coach is the father. Coach is a mentor. 

Coach has great power on athlete's life."

There was a surprising amount of hype starting to surround ‘Foxcatcher’ in the lead up to the release and I was really looking forward to seeing it.

Olympic Gold medal winning brothers, Mark & David Schultz, join Team Foxcatcher, a wrestling team sponsored by the slightly unbalanced Multimillionaire John E. du Pont, as they train for the 1988 games in Seoul.

The trailer was dark, unsettling and intriguing. It had a strong cast and featured some unbelievable claims in the reviews such as "There are great American movies, and then there are great movies that take America as their very subject, from Greed and Citizen Kane to There Will Be Blood and The Social Network. Foxcatcher has that same soaring ambition, and it can hold its own in that August company.”.

Big (almost melodramatic) claims there…

The cinema was packed on opening weekend and I went on the Saturday to see the “shocking true story”.

‘Foxcatcher’ promises a film that it doesn’t quite deliver on... We are sold an entirely different film from the trailer and that really disappointed me. There was so much hype surrounding the film and I can’t help but feel that it’s not entirely deserved.

Steve Carell gives a sensational performance as the multimillionaire John E. du Pont. I was struggling with the concept of seeing Steve Carell in a serious drama but, as soon as we see him in character for the first time, there’s no doubt that he’s doing something special. 

This isn’t Steve Carell. This isn’t Evan from ‘Bruce Almighty’ or Brick from ‘Anchorman’, it’s an entirely different actor. I expected to be constantly waiting for a punchline to come from Carell but I actually totally forgot who he was. 

In the two hour run time he is John E. du Pont.

The remarkable make-up changes his features and give him a creepy and introverted look, almost reminiscent of Vampire Count Orlok in ‘Nosferatu’. This transformation then frees up his range as a “serious" actor because we barely recognise him as the comedy star we are used to. He takes on the mannerisms of the real John E. du Pont and, after watching real footage of him, he has undoubtedly captured him in every way.

This being said, unfortunately, if you were to take Steve Carell’s performance out of the equation then I think the film becomes relatively dull. Much like in bad horror or comedy movies, they show you the “best bits” in the trailer and ‘Foxcatcher’ falls prey to this trick. It takes all of the most interesting scenes and builds them into a tense and thrilling climax for the trailer so, when you come to watch the film, it starts to really drag. It has some seriously good tension in the first act and I hoped it was going to lead to a dark and thrilling climax but it never came. It wanders along at a slow and steady pace that is established in the first half and never picks up. You are left wanting and expecting something to cut through the well built tension but it doesn’t come. Don't get me wrong, it was interesting to watch the relationships develop between the two athletes and the coach but it just wasn’t what was promised.

I have never been a huge fan of Channing Tatum but I was hearing soaring reviews about him as Mark Schultz and ‘Foxcatcher' being his breakthrough performance so I was expecting a revelatory performance to say the least. 

In the end I wasn’t impressed. He had obviously done some intensive training and had some impressive skills in wrestling (from what I could tell) but, other than that, I found him unbearably flat and his performance quite forced. I always feel like I'm watching Channing Tatum "acting" rather than being transported by his character and forgetting who I'm watching.

There is a scene where he smashes his head against a mirror and it really cuts him, this was the scene I had heard so much about but I think it takes more than an actor hurting himself to give a memorable performance.

There were some homosexual and homophobic undertones in the film that I picked up on between the coach and his athletes that was interesting but was only implied as the filmmakers were probably only allowed to imply rather than show. This added another depth to the relationship between John E. du Pont and Mark Schultz.

Shoot me if I’m wrong here but I tend to think that Mark Ruffalo just plays Mark Ruffalo in each role he's in and, not surprisingly, I thought he was bland as David Schultz too. He's a soft spoken "nice guy" and I enjoy watching him in the films he's in but I was hoping to go deeper. Granted, like Channing Tatum, he had gone through some intensive wrestling training that was impressive to watch but other than that I thought they were both outclassed by Steve Carell in every way.

The film does examine some interesting concepts and ideas. The relationship between two brothers was one that was gripping to watch for the most part. Mark is always overshadowed by Dave and this really pushes him to try and achieve everything he sets out for. He is mislead by coach du Pont and his wealth and it is great to watch their relationship deteriorate as the film goes on.

Another interesting idea that was explored was the effect of wealth and power on a human being that has grown up knowing no different. John E. du Pont was clearly a spoiled and troubled man who, because of his immense wealth, wasn’t living in reality. He was a paranoid and extremely unbalanced person. He should have received help but instead was sheltered by everyone around him because of his money and his power. When you combine that with his strained relationship with his mother and his seemingly infinite bank account, you end up with a dangerously unstable man who is striving for recognition and a false sense of achievement.

It was clever the way director Bennett Miller managed to use the physical wrestling to express the psychological struggle between the characters. The trio of characters, Mark Schultz, Dave Schultz and John E. du Pont, all battle between themselves as they strive for greatness.

Overall, I think I was maybe expecting something different from ‘Foxcatcher’. It was a slow burner that didn’t end up burning very bright. I enjoyed the intense character study but wouldn’t rush out to see it again. A misleading trailer disappointed me but it wasn't a disaster, it was just different to what I thought the film was going to be.

Steve Carell needs an Oscar nomination for this, if not a win, but other than that I’d rather see other films pick up the awards this year as I think they've earned it.