Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

Annapolis Blu-ray Movie Review

'Top Gun' meets 'Rocky' meets every other military or boxing film you've ever seen.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 19, 2010

Pitch meetings in Hollywood are often an unintentionally hilarious, semi-desperate affair where a writer or director or even star who wants to get a project funded attempts to boil down his idea into a easily salable and marketable sentence or two. Frequently these pitches will take the form of “It’s [insert hit movie A here] meets [insert hit movie B here].” Audiences are probably only too aware of that “been there, seen that” feeling in any number of films coming down the pike. In fact, the more jaded among us might even aver that it’s really most of the films coming down the pike that have that feeling they’re cobbled together from leftover parts of previously released movies. When was the last completely original film you’ve seen, whether that be a classic or a misfire? It’s almost hard to remember, isn’t it? What a sad state of affairs that is not just for the movie business in particular, but for creativity in general. I would have headlined this review “so many clichés, so little time,” but unfortunately I used that recently for yet another cliché-ridden film I just reviewed, the by the numbers sports film Coach Carter. Change genres, at least slightly, and you’ll get Annapolis, a sort of quasi-military coming of age story (think Top Gun or An Officer and a Gentleman) mixed with boxing (think Rocky or the less well known Fighting with Channing Tatum) that features a hapless James Franco (Spiderman) as a naval academy neophyte who against all odds gets his commission, his girl, and a boxing championship. There, I’ve just given away the ending and saved you an hour and a half or so of your valuable time.

James Franco stars in 'Annapolis.'

I often get overly frustrated when I see a film like Annapolis, not just for its patently fake setups and denouements, but for the complete lack of ingenuity shown by its screenwriter. Here scenarist Dave Collard manages to extract virtually every known cliché not just from one genre, but several, hoping that by mixing them up in a putatively new recipe no one will notice these are all extremely stale ingredients.

Franco’s character Jake Huard is a hardscrabble guy from the wrong side of the tracks, with a working class future staring at him in the face. He pines to attend Annapolis to fulfill not only his own dreams but a promise he made to his late mother. He defies his unsupportive father (Brian Goodman, who actually brings some depth and nuance to a completely stereotypical role) to finally achieve his goal, hooking up with a beautiful woman (Jordana Brewster) who (if you haven’t seen this coming, you haven’t seen any films recently) turns out to be a cadet. Whoa, dude—what a surprise! Not.

For all my curmudgeonly dislike of the well worn path Annapolis trods, it at least veers into something akin to actual human emotion with a sidebar story of Jake’s roommate, Twins (Vicellous Shannon), whose weight problem may keep him from completing his Navy training. With all the bombast and screen time given to Jake’s nascent boxing career and his attempts to make it through the Academy, strangely it’s this subplot that tugs more forcefully at the heartstrings and gives Annapolis what little soul it actually has. There are so many lamentable, absolutely ridiculous clichés strewn through this film that this brief respite is perhaps more appreciated than it would be otherwise.

Director Justin Lin made big waves with Better Luck Tomorrow, which led to his being recruited to helm a big (or at least bigger) budget Hollywood flick. Unfortunately, that very lure may be what ultimately undercut this project from the very beginning. With a new-to-the-Hollywood-game director dealing with “the machine” that is the movie making business, Lin probably didn’t have the power or expertise to traverse the mine field and make Annapolis something more than a poorly stitched knockoff of virtually every other film of this ilk you’ve ever seen.

Annapolis Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Despite being one of Buena Vista's earliest Blu-ray releases, encoded via MPEG-2 in 1080p with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, Annapolis often looks sharp as a well-creased officer's uniform. Colors here, while muted in some of the grittier urban scenes, pop nicely and provide the film a well developed palette to keep the eye engaged. Quite a bit of the film plays out in slightly blue and gray tones which are admirably recreated on the Blu-ray. While contrast is generally strong, I found some of the interior scenes to be lacking, with a resultant darkness that leads to a muddy appearance. On the whole, though, this is a consistent, if not overwhelmingly brilliant, presentation that offers excellent detail, good depth of field and lifelike color. The transfer preserves the slightly grainy, nicely textured look of the source elements.

Annapolis Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I don't know if it was just my bad luck to get two cliché-ridden catalog titles in a row to review, but Annapolis virtually duplicates Coach Carter's audio situation, with an uncompressed LPCM 5.1 track that toddles along nicely in dialogue sections before finally erupting in the fight sequences, much as Carter does in its basketball segments. This is certainly a solid sonic offering in any case, but a lot of this film plays out in smaller, intimate moments that don't offer a lot of directionality and certainly very little surround activity. Once we get to the boxing scenes, though, we're awash in some really fun discrete channel effects, with panning and whipping sound effects whizzing by the listener as fast as Franco's furious fists. If you don't require a constant barrage of surround activity, Annapolis offers a track that has great fidelity, excellent range, and absolute clarity.

Annapolis Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There's not a wealth of extras on this Blu-ray, but the Commentary track featuring director Lin, writer Collard and editor Fred Raskin is unusually entertaining, mostly due to Lin's discussion of his trek to Hollywood. The only other real extra are 12 minutes of deleted scenes, with optional Lin commentary. This being an early Buena Vista Blu release, there's also the supposed extra of Movie Showcase, which offers a few scenes in the film that highlight the visual and aural splendors of Blu-ray. Previews for other Buena Vista products are also on tap.

Annapolis Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Annapolis needed to go back to basic training itself to develop itself into something other than just another warmed over retread of a million movies you've seen before. Annapolis is one recruit who won't be getting its commission.