I just felt like watching one of my favorite sports movie of all time tonight. This has plenty of cliche’s but damn do I love this movie. I’ve watched it so many times now and it never gets old. Sometimes you just need to come back to what you know and love. I genuinely love everything about this movie. It’s inspirational, uplifting, romantic and sad. This just hits me pretty hard. I absolutely love the score throughout this entire movie. Michael Shannon made an excellent rowing coach. I loved his character. I genuinely get so much out of this movie. Plus I absolutely love the entire final act. I’m kind of shocked no one has seen this movie. It’s definitely better than it gets credit for and deserves more recognition. It’s almost like it was specially made for me.

Film 161 (Goal: 300) of 2024: Heart of Champions, also know as Pressure Point, sees an Army veteran Coach (played by Michael Shannon) take over as the trainer for a rowing team, where he has to balance their egos and past issues. Boy do I love sports movies. When done well, even the simple ones work. Heart of Champions is a pretty standard film, that doesn't break any new ground. If you've seen one of these mentor arrives to turn the team around, and initially they ruffle feathers, but eventually bring the team together films - you've usually seen them all. Michael Shannon is really good as the ex-Army Veteran who while carrying grief of his own, brings his life lessons to the team. It's a role that a veteran actor could have breezed through but Shannon brings a strange warmth, in this leadership role. Charles Melton, Alexander Ludwig and Alex MacNicholl round out the 3 main student roles. Ludwig's arc, while reaching a logical conclusion, feels like there could have been some additional payoff. The film also makes a brave decision at the end of Act 2, that I didn't see coming. Some of the interactions between the student characters feel tonally different from the rest of the film. While I enjoyed the main romantic relationship, and some of the elements of these interactions play a big part in climax of Act 2, they still feel out of place against the main rowing story. Heart of Champions works because of some great acting, some good script decisions in key moments, and a pretty good score that ramps up during the rowing scenes. As mentioned before, it doesn't break the mold but it's easy watching.

Being and ex-rower thought this would be worth a watch. The rowing, coaching and racing was actually pretty god, let down but the soapy melodrama around it which never really felt earned. Some surprising emotional beats but overall and forgetable movie if fine in the moment. Extra star for Michael Shannon, always good value...

Predictable movie does little to stand out from similar sports movies. It doesn't even touch the heart or inspire so it's pretty pointless really.

A very cliché movie! Sad.