The Last Whistle (2019) User Reviews

A Slow, Cliched Contrition Message without Preaching

[dansview · 5/10 · 9 November 2019]

There were several clichés here. Also, the lead actor played almost the same character he played in the Friday Night Lights series. We had the rich kid with a chip on his shoulder, the earnest star player, the well-meaning assistant coach, and the troublemaking redneck bar patron to name a few.

But there were some good elements. The lead was actually a decent guy from start to finish, and both him and others grew emotionally or spiritually by the end. You keep waiting for some kind of religious preaching, but it never happens. Although you do see a Psalm on the wall of our lead's house.

There's little or no character development or back story for the ball players, bartender, bar patrons, or school administrators, but you get some half baked attempts for the daughter and the star player.

Music is barely used. This is good, because it would have been manipulative.

What's nice is that the coach never really grovels. He is who he is. He just learns to tell people he's sorry when he feels it. It's cut and dry without too much ceremony. You can't help but like him.

Unfortunately there just isn't much happening here, and the pace is excruciating.

Poor movie

[pcforhope · 4/10 · 1 June 2020]

First of all this should be rated PG-13 with the language. I thought it was "wholesome" as one reviewer said. It was not. Also the acting was poor, casting was bad and story was slow. Unrealistic in many ways and just was a poor poor movie.

Wah Wah Wah suck it up butter cups

[natcalgary · 5/10 · 4 September 2019]

Too many people complain that they are worked too hard or too long. This is what builds character and disipline. I for one am glad I had people to push me and make me into the person I am today. Some times things happen out of our control. In fact the number of people that die every year trying to get into the military or marines would blow your mind.

This movie is a sad realization of this type of thing. It it is sad that this coaches dreams were shattered because of a mother that couldn't control her emotions.

4.1

Brad Leland was great

[peisli · 3/10 · 1 December 2019]

Brad Leland was great as always but the plot, the acting, the story was awful. Even Leland couldn't save this disaster of the movie

Really unrealistic

[kingrooster-97293 · 3/10 · 29 March 2020]

In some ways this moves is really unrealistic

The average weight of training gear is 9kg 20 pounds

They ran 53M 11 Times that is 583m

The average temperature is 15 degrees

The guy looked around 75-80kg

even with his heart condition he should have been able to run further then he did in the movie just doesn't seem right to me my personal opinion don't attack me

Not that great

[docwebb-65066 · 2/10 · 1 November 2019]

Kind of unrealistic. Predictable. Dragged on and on. The story line is something that happens in real life but this was just too wishy washy.

Hubris

[fmwongmd · 7/10 · 24 April 2020]

A well told and dramatized story about football hubris is engrossing and enlightening. Brad.Leland is effective as the coach.

I could not finish it...

[gbounit · 2/10 · 25 December 2020]

This is so unrealistic. Benny's mom didn't want her son to play football, yet she cannot afford to pay for schooling, and Benny's grades were good but not good for a full scholarship... and she tells him to quit depending on people. Yet Coach could help him with a full ride based on ability. Ok mom. And she sues the coach, yet no one knew about Benny's heart condition. And that jerk team mate who complained about lack of playing time? Wow, he'd be gone and the way he talked back to coach at practice? That whole meeting with the mom, coach, and that lawyer? What a bunch of bull... revenge sprints, ignoring the value of discipline, etc... and Coach Greg? Wow. He rats on the coach, and lies in that meeting. This is such a ridiculous unrealistic movie. Again, that mother is ridiculous. The only reason I gave it a 2-star, is because it is about high school football. But this is a terrible movie.

Ignore the bad reviews

[crazychainsaw · 7/10 · 25 November 2020]

The movie is interesting, while also being very sad. It is a little bit slow at some parts but it picks up.

Way off on football reality

[padrig-46557 · 1/10 · 2 January 2023]

I'm a coach of several decades and the portrayal of a coach as is one of the main characters is very far removed from reality. Spanning six high school sports, including 25 seasons of football, less than a handful of coaches would act, or even think, as the head coach did in risking the health of his players. Such consequential running has been rarely used as discipline and almost always closely monitored. Especially in the advent of sports performance and medicine advancement. The damn few coaches who have had players at risk via such conditioning are ostracized and don't last long. As the immeasurable and vast majority of coaches care deeply about their student-athletes and are conscientious about any health or safety risks. The minority of coaches the antithesis of those who put their player's health above all else...is only a handful. Thank God.

Winning at what cost?

[greglagreg · 9/10 · 1 July 2019]

I played football for two years in high school, as a freshman and a sophomore, way back in 1965 and 1966. I remember the coaches names and each had different peculiarities, different tactics, to spur the players on to win games.

I was 135 pound guard. Yeah, I know. A little guy. I remember the first day of practice. During the exercises, this particular coach made each player carry another player on his back (chicken-fight style) and run across the field over and over. The guy on my back, Dave T., weighed180 pounds, no joke.

That day I did what I was told for as long as I was told to do it, then I threw up. We practiced twice a day beneath a hot August sun---first at 8 in the morning, then again at 3 in the afternoon. This went on for the last two weeks of August until classes started in September.

Why am I writing this? Because the same fate that befell the young football player in this film could have happened to just about any player on our team. It was a sort of Basic Training for the players, and I get that--but coaches and egos and power and competition can lead people to the brink of lunacy.

I would never suggest that building a team is easy--but it takes intelligence as well, of course. Commanders on a battlefield, teachers in a classroom, wherever leadership is necessary, requires prudence. If you will: it takes practice to learn how to lead a practice effectively. It takes practice to build a team. Leaders, as we know--in any field--can be led astray by their own power trips, their own psychological issues.

I should say that I am half Texan, meaning my mother was from Texas. In Texas, football is serious business. Bragging rights are paramount.

THE LAST WHISTLE offers insight into the quest to win at all costs; you may win the game on the field, but in the end you may lose the respect of your team, your community, and yourself.

These young film makers knew what they were doing when they struggled to get this feature made. They were trying to make a difference--and they have.

It takes teamwork to make a good football team, and it takes teamwork to make a good film-- to make either, you need to make a lot of hard choices and hope that the egos and power trips that might erupt during the process are first recognized for what they are and then corrected, so the team can get back on course. Winning at life is sometimes more important than winning the game; and sometimes that's a hard lesson.

Nice job.

talk about slow movies

[steve-585 · 3/10 · 29 June 2020]

This thing just dragged on and on. Fortunately I could jump ahead in 10 second increments. OK story but I've seen ones like it many times.. Only interesting the last 5 minutes.

FLAG ON THE FIELD

[mmthos · 4/10 · 23 April 2021]

I call foul on this would-be inspirational ersatz afterschool special bout a driven high school championship football coach who seems more concerned bout.the cancellation of the big game and loss of his job (football is his Life, of course) than the player's death that occasioned it! Unconvincingly he eventually learns to say he's sorry, and that's the moral of our story.

Actors adequate with the Very poor script and presentation they're dealing with here

Didn't buy it.

Sanctimonious, predictable nonsense

[paperwork-1 · 2/10 · 3 September 2020]

This film takes a long time to say this: "it is okay as a man to express emotion. Go team."

Entertaining enough but.......

[cbarneey · 4/10 · 20 October 2022]

I read all the reviews here and agree with practically all of them, from the poorly rated to the highest rated. All I kept thinking throughout the film once the audience learns about the heart condition, is why is this kid allowed to play football at all? No school would sign that acceptance and take the insurance risk.

Also at the end of the movie when the superintendent reveals the vote that there were three votes for the coach and four with the super, does that mean he's back in? Usually the board consists of 5-7 individuals but that part wasn't clear to me. Or maybe that is when I didn't care anymore.

Lead actor held my interest so I kept watching for him, The mock courtroom was a joke.

Amen.

My new favorite football movie, saw it in the theater this week. Twice

[alan-dunkel-1 · 10/10 · 2 July 2019]

The Last Whistle is a drama about high school football coach Vic and his championship team but it's more than that. Brad Leland from Friday Night Lights plays coach Vic and Deanne Lauvin who plays the mother of his star player is his nemesis here. Coach in real life, Les Miles and Eric Nelsen round out the top-billed cast but the acting was all really top notch. This film is realistic in showing football here in Texas as well as how tragedy can strike and how people can overcome in the end. Put a tear in my eye and just really enjoyed the film overall, enough to watch it a second time.

*SPOILERS AHEAD* An emotional story bolstered by a seasoned cast, sound & music, and screenwriting

[linda840325 · 10/10 · 4 July 2019]

Who would have thought that the story of a high school football coach dead set on winning state championship - so dead set that he subjects his star football player to extreme physical stress - would evoke tears near the end of the film? There are many factors that made this a great film, but three factors stood out: acting, sound and music, and screenwriting.

The acting is nothing short of what I would expect from a seasoned cast. Brad Leland, who plays Coach Trenton, taps into the psyche of the character and channels his personality into his interactions with other characters. You can tell from the beginning that he's hot-headed, such as getting into physical altercation at the bar. However, near the end, he has a character arc that goes full circle to show how he has changed. Instead of getting into another physical altercation, he says he has a different type of fire inside him, and he is more at peace.

What also makes this film stand out is its sound and music. The film does an amazing job utilizing sounds and music to emerge us in the environment (sound of whistles and cheering for football games, and country music to fit the Texas setting) as well as to evoke particular emotions (discordant music to make us relate to the character's stress and nervousness).

Lastly, the screenwriting by Robert Smat allows the audience to connect with Coach Trenton as we follow him on his journey to find peace after many people blame him for football player Benny's death. What stands out for me is the heated exchange between the coach and Benny's mother during the court case. The way the dialogue is written, it makes them feel more real. After all, both sides are in pain, and they're trying to convey their pains to each other. Another moment that stands out is in the end, when the coach gives the rallying speech to the football team to commemorate Benny. Originally, I wish Benny's interaction with the coach, his teammates, and his family could be more drawn out to give a better sense of who he is. However, towards the end, I find that I do know Benny, through the stories that other share after his death. In a sense, the coach was right, Benny does live on through each and every one of the teammates.

A film that starts out with a coach that pushes his team to the edge, is hot-tempered, and doesn't care about others' opinion, he has to shift his mindset and start accessing himself after Benny's death. We as the audience are brought along this journey, and aided by the acting, sound and music, and the screenwriting, the film turns a football film into a lesson on reputation, teamwork, and finding inner peace.

Great performances from breakout talent

[jenny-lor-22-112252 · 10/10 · 29 June 2019]

In addition to the seasoned cast, this film had great performances from (experienced, but) newer talent. Fred Tolliver Jr. is captivating in this film as well as Eric Nelsen. Brian M. Tang also keeps every frame interesting as DP. Overall a clean film with positive messaging that stays true to the reality of possible dangers of a sport without condemning the sport itself.

A Wholesome Football Movie

[jpshank-31380 · 10/10 · 16 July 2019]

It is a good movie that reminded my of my time playing football when I was younger. It has wholesome values and explores interesting topics. I greatly enjoyed it.