Concussion

A lot of people are rightfully shaking their heads at how this story is told, but with the Super Bowl coming up, it remains an important part of a very uncomfortable conversation, we should all probably be having.

The road to this particular cinematic hell is paved with good intentions and an awful lot of clichés. And Smith isn't very believable, either.

Not that great but still worth it for highlighting the real life CTE problem and the NFL cover-up.

Omalu's story is of mild interest, his work is of great interest, and the CTE-related deaths endemic to the NFL are of grave interest. Most of the drama and power of this situation lies with the former players, and yet they are out on the edges of the story while Omalu is at its center. This should be inverted. The Crusader's Wife character is as flimsy and unoriginal as she was the last hundred times you saw her--just cut her out and save us all 20 minutes of runtime.

This is a prime example of the worst type of Oscar bait. The acting is fine, but the script and the direction is overly melancholic and dramatic. And I was almost offended by the focus on the individual instead of the topic, apparently Omalu was mostly interested in promoting himself otherwise the film does him a great disservice.

Mostly effective docudrama regarding a pretty important medical discovery. Like many things its baffling that so many were surprised ramming ones head full speed against another's head would be detrimental to ones health.

This is somewhat emotionally-manipulative for me, which is not so much a criticism as it is an admission. It just leads to a better score than it probably should have. I thought Will was tremendous. Brilliant. I thought his supporting cast was fine, and the production values were solid, with a very blue-collar feel. What I could have done without was the sub-story of Omalu's "romance". Give it time or don't give it time, but don't half-ass it. It felt half-assed. Everything else is really great!

Likely would have ended up on TV if they'd cast anyone but Will Smith. Good acting, poor, predictable story. Bonus points received for calling the NFL out.

Would've been better as a shorter tv movie. It's good to bring the topic to the public space but still lacks the dynamics of a powerful movie.

This movie feels like the plot, and ultimately the movie itself as a whole, suffered so that Will Smith could have more screen time to do his acting. Was Smith good? Yes, probably his best in a long time, or his best ever (for what it's worth), but the essential tragedy loses its momentum and punch while he gets his groove on.

First half - fantastic. Second half - boring.

May have been more effective as a dedicated biopic. As it was, it was a little unfocused and overall unremarkable.

Whether or not you'll get anything out of Concussion depends on why you're watching it. If you want to learn about concussions, CTE, and the lengths the NFL went to - and in some respects still goes to - in an attempt to hide the issue from the public, then you're in the right place. And if you're here to see Will Smith deliver his best performance in years, you'll leave satisfied. It should have been a documentary.

Whilst I liked the performances and found it very interesting, as a film it wasn't as emotional or outstanding as, I think, it wanted to be. The little guy vs the big corporation, is nothing new and I think the timing is a little odd. It paints the NFL as the villain, but they do as much as they can right now for the players and have a come a long way since this (at least I think).

Too much like a made-for-tv movie. Completely predictable from start to end.

This felt exactly like a movie of the week. There was absolutely nothing exceptional about this movie what so ever.

This movie started excellent. The first half was quite good. Will Smith gave the performance of his life and should have been nominated for an Oscar. The ending was disappointing. It felt like a lot of the follow-through was lacking and it lost narrative steam.

Will Smith does a wonderful job and it is a fairly gripping drama about an important subject. I didn't love it but I was entertained more than I should have been, considering I don't like football. Yes, I know it's about more than just a sport, but the consequences of said sport.

35 pts for directing, 5 pts for acting, 0 pts for the plot. Every inspirational story an actor reads in the first 200 words of a script does not need to be made into a film. Hollywood needs a serious kick in the ass to weed out these flops. Smith would have spent his time much more wisely focusing on Independence Day 2 & making that a much better movie than it was. A big name blockbuster sequel doesn't have to suck... Case in point: Terminator 2. Arnold acted better in that movie as a cyborg!!

Incoherent made-for-tv docu-drama with a big budget. Colouring by numbers: If you've read the summary, you've seen the film.

It's definitely a slow burner and some will give up on it, simply because it brings nothing new to the genre. Smith, Baldwin and Brooks where very good. The story spoke very clear to me, hence I am a big American football fan. As of now, my future children won't be allowed to play this game. *Good

Thus, Concussion delivers a blow of its own to moviegoers, especially those who love football: America's most beloved sport is killing some of those who play it. It may not kill its gladiatorial combatants as quickly as their forerunners in Rome's Colosseum two millennia ago. But the brutality we now take so much pleasure in may ultimately yield the same result for many of them. (pluggedin.com)

eng; [concussion]; der amerikanische football hinterlässt an den spielern spuren, welche ein gerichtsmediziner untersucht - und auf unregelmäßigkeiten im gehirngewebe stosst.;

The movie was preachy, but I found myself sliding into the story. Will Smith is the master of playing a character that you want to like.

The film goes slack when its screws most need to tighten. Luckily, Smith -- flawless in accent and commitment to Omalu's worthy cause -- grips you from first to last.

As a historical semi-biopic, you have to be either factually accurate or dramatically entertaining. You can't not be either.

Interesting topic but so-so execution. Watched: 31-Jan-2021

Interesting story, but unremarkable film

Saccharine and hagiographic (of Omalu) at points and genuinely impactful and heartbreaking at others (like the depiction of Iron Mike Webster). Somehow both overly familiar and uneven tonally.

Surprisingly good.

I slept through anything between 15 and 45 minutes of this, I really don't know because the rest of the film dragged so much it was hard to tell time.

Will Smith is good in the lead role in this film. The script does not show really anything new but it works. Overall I would recommend this film.

The documentary about the doctor is far better. This film is about a story worth telling, but ironically lacks much impact. Smith tries his best, I suppose, but nothing for me in this really worked well. It is more or less and aimless film and doesn't sink its teeth in far enough. Would've benefited from greater focus on something as opposed to trying to cram a bunch of superfluous details into an already muddled story.

The story of how Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith) discovered CTE, a brain disease caused by repeated trauma, which heavily affects former NFL players, and how the NFL tried to discredit his findings. The story doesn't really benefit from the heroic-biopic treatment, and the hoary script, which devotes an inordinate amount of time to Omalu's marriage (and wastes Gugu Mbatha-Raw in a stock supportive-wife role), makes for a rather soggy experience. Decent performances just about keep it watchable.

I wonder if there's any correlation between eye rolling and the brain making pithy reviews. YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST PEOPLE.

a little too dramatized, a little too hollywood, but ultimately effective and engaging enough to tolerate a single viewing

A slow but strong film, Concussion tells an intriguing true story very well, with strong performances and script.

Too boring for my taste

As a story or scientific fact yes this movie is gold. Acting also above decent. Cast is also too. But as a movie nope. Transitions between sections or emotions is poor.. Somewhere is boringly slow somepart is rapidly fast and not satisfying final arc of the movie.. This is a biography of course we all know the end but the way director puts in it is poor too. And phasing is trouble too first 20-25 minutes was fantastic but than its starts to go down in every 20 min. part. Story: 80 Movie: 64

Will Smith lead a film that seemed to drag on for the last 20 to 25 minutes. It tried to tackle the big issues surrounding the NFL and its trangressions but ultimately it felt like a feel good docudrama and never really excelled beyond that. It is an entertaining film for the most part.

If you ignore absolutely everything that's done with his wife and how absurdly offensive it all is (I literally only learned her name from seeing it on the ultrasound screen an hour into the movie), Concussion is still not a very good movie. There are good performances in it, and some alright scenes, but the movie is such a mess of themes that it never feels coherent in that way. It's most interesting as a counterpoint to The Big Short, as an example of how wrong this sort of film can really go.

Interesting topic on how the NFL wanna hide their dirty little secret. No not their extensive use of steroids and other enhancement drugs, but the equally dangerous head injuries the organization has has hushed-up. Unfortunately the execution of the film in average, which is fortunate for the American style of football, for few will be left with a impression strong enough to question their favorite sport enough to stop watching. A movie that should have been, but instead is just forgettable.

I liked David Morse huffing glue in his pickup looking like the preppie from Good Will Hunting. And Will Smith doing "research" studying football coaches fresh out of Kink Academy ("You grab him by the throat and you squeeze! You choke him till shit runs down his leg!").

This movie is a wake-up call and hits you like a sledgehammer. That'll surely give you CTE. My review here : http://opinion-as-a-moviefreak.blogspot.be/2016/03/concussion-2015.html

as others said, does not translate well to a movie

Very slow paced.

Well that definitely took a different turn on this beloved game. I loved the statement in the end: They need to know! A convincing Will Smith. *Good