Unstoppable

Anthony Robles was born with one leg and took up wrestling at school. He wants to go to university and no programme wants him; in the end he gets into Arizona State on his own and fights his way onto the team. There is another matter at home: his mother Judy is raising four children and trying to get out of a violent marriage. The goal is a national title. William Goldenberg directs in his first film. Jharrel Jerome plays Robles, Jennifer Lopez plays his mother and Don Cheadle plays his coach. The story is real. Anthony Robles won the intercollegiate national wrestling title in 2011 and never used a prosthesis in his career. Goldenberg began as an editor and won an Oscar for Argo; this is his first as director, and the editing experience shows in the wrestling. What interests the film is the house rather than the mat. The mother's strand takes half the narrative and the cost of the struggle is shown in the family rather than the athlete. Real wrestlers appear in the bouts and Robles worked on the film as an adviser. The template is familiar: the obstacle, the rejection, the work and the final match. The film does not leave it and does not try to. Who it is for: viewers who like sports drama and films drawn from real events. Who it is not for: the narrative is predictable, the emotional pitch is high, and most characters are one dimensional.