Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Aspen Orson There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

Gordon-11 This film tells the story of a man who works for a naval shipyard. He dreams of getting into the naval academy, but finds it very tough after finally getting in against the odds.I haven't seen many films about navy in training, so this is pretty new for me. The story is very engaging because Jake has to endure multiple hardships, not only just his comparatively underprivileged background, his relative lack of ability, but also being pinpointed by his superiors along the training. It's a tough situation, but pure persistence and admirable determination keeps him going. The supporting characters are very interesting too. I really feel for the African American guy who is maliciously nicknamed Twins. His sad subplot brings tears to my eyes.I enjoyed the experience of watching "Annapolis". I simply have not expected it to be as touching and uplifting as it is.

bpatrick-8 Although I've never been to a military academy I am aware that plebes (first-year students) are not allowed to fraternize with upperclassmen (or women), although I've heard stories of plebes who were "recognized" during plebe year and were allowed to fraternize with those specific individuals. Therefore, the Franco-Brewster relationship is wrong, at least until he gets to his second year. Franco's character also seems to have way too much time on his hands (isn't he supposed to be in his room for study period and after lights out?). And as several people have pointed out, Tyrese Gibson's character was a Marine, not a "soldier." I bet a lot of ex-Marines found that to be a hoot.Now for my question: Huard (Franco) and Loo. Loo got one midshipman kicked out on an honor violation, he moves out of the room and encourages Twins to do the same because Huard "is just going to bring you down," in his preliminary fight with Huard he tells him that "payback is a b****" and taunts him throughout the match. Then he ends up, along with Ali (Brewster), coaching him for Brigades! And where did she learn to box? She doesn't even seem to be the type who would get dirt on herself!A few words from the writers might have been in order.

RepublicofE A lot of people have torn this film to pieces for its inaccuracies. Well I've never attended a service academies, but I feel this film has a lot more to be criticized for besides how inaccurate it is.The only character who really belonged there was Cole. None of the others have any business at the academy. There's the a-hole DC whose character really only exists to give a face to the frustration the plebes feel, who uses methods of hazing that I doubt would be tolerated at the Academy. There's this roommate of Huard who is only there because he has nothing better to do with his time as he lets everyone around him know at every opportunity. There's the obligatory love interest who despite at first seeming very serious about Academy life doesn't realize or care that when they say no fraternization they mean no fraternization. There's that one overachieving cadet who appears to be the most competent of them all and depending on how you view him is either the only one among the main character plebes with any kind of real future as a competent officer or just an a-hole who thinks he's better than everyone just by virtue of being somewhat better adapted to the academy environment, but since he doesn't get much in the way of character development I just assume he's the latter. There's the poor black kid who is going there mainly to make his parents proud.And then there's Huard. As far as gaining the audience's sympathy, the film throws every advantage in the book his way. He has a dad who never believed in him, a CO who is skeptical of his potential as an officer, an plebe unit who hates him because he keeps screwing up, yet in spite of all this he is determined to make it through. Yet I still could not find it in me to relate to him without a lot of effort.Huard does not deserve to be at the Academy. His motivation for being there is to make his parents proud and prove to himself that he can do it, rather than any desire to serve his country. Cole even tells him so outright, and Huard's following dialogue does nothing to refute that charge, it just tries to reestablish him as the hopeful underdog whom we need to root for. The fact that the tropes have been set up in such a way as to cast him as the underdog does not make him an underdog. So he had a father who never believed in him, there are people who graduate from the service academies with a lot more going against them than that. In fact as far as I can remember the film never really establishes that the father "never believed in him", only that he never believed he was Academy material. For all we know he has a lot of good reasons to think that. Maybe he realized his son simply did not have the proper attitude. Because I was able to realize that pretty quickly. Again, he's not an underdog, he's the kind of person who has known success all his life but is more comfortable in this specific environment being the "underdog", and anyone who has actually met this kind of person whether in the military or in civilian life should realize this. None of the bad things that happen to him at the academy happen because of an undiagnosed disability or lack of support by his fellow plebes or being sabotaged by a rival cadet or anything like that, they all happen due to the fact that his head is in the clouds and he has no concept of what his proper role within the academy environment is. If I were in his cadet platoon I would probably hate him too. During the scenes where his fellow cadets get hazed as a result of his failures, such as when they all missed out on their lunch because he bet their meals on a trivia question that he was only 65% sure that he knew the correct answer to, or the water bucket scene, the film does a lot to focus on how he personally is suffering/being made uncomfortable through the process, and none showing him coming to any realization that his teammates were suffering because of his indifference toward the Academy curriculum and that he needed to shape up or ship out. In fact the whole time, his goal just seems to be to get through plebe year, with no eye toward four full years at the Academy much less a full and proper career as an officer.Halfway through the film suddenly decides to add a Rocky plot element with the Brigade boxing championship thingy. Huard's redemption arch from being a pathetic looser to a proper cadet with a future is somehow tied to whether or not he can win that championship. Instead of staying up studying his texts and in general trying to improve himself as a cadet and a leader, he spends his spare time training in boxing, and we are supposed to see that as him improving as a character. The fact that he does end up beating Cole in a round as the glorious payoff really just serves as a red herring against the fact that at the end of the movie he still has not made up his mind as to why he is there and has not improved in any virtues that are expected of an officer besides hand-to-hand combat. The forbidden love interest even gets off his case and lets him become her boyfriend for no clear reason other than she apparently is impressed by his boxing skills. It can't be because he has finally gotten over himself and started being a team player, because the film offers no evidence that that has happened

FlickChickMD I love Military movies...mostly because my dad is an Officer in The Marine Corps, and I have been on various bases, and even visited Anapolis on a school trip. So whenever I do watch military movies, my dad always tells me what was done right and wrong. This movie does make the military's teaching methods look bad. Because of the hazing, racism, etc. The similarities to OAAG (Officer and A Gentleman) are insane and annoying!Especially because I L-O-V-E OAAG! I've seen it dozens of times so I guess that's why I noticed so much..lolBelow are my findings in OAAG similaritiesINCLUDES SPOILERS------>-You have the African American superior officer who happens to be a Marine. -Your best friend commits suicide (or at least tries) because of pressure from family to do great also because of lack of empathy from superior officer -recruit gets in ring with SO -there is the "local bar" everyone goes to when on liberty -love interest also hangs at bar -main character has Daddy's love issues and mother is dead.. -main recruit gets no mail from anyone..only attention from love interest and bff -recruit has a fighting background from the beginning of the movie that is incorporated into the film. -the character Estrada is sooo Dellasera's clone from OAAG -main character helps another recruit complete obstacle course and has huge embrace with squad after bff finishes course.So above are what I noticed about the similarities..I did catch the movie on TV because nothing else was on, and i always wanted to see this. I never saw the trailer (or don't remember anyway), but like I said I love military movies..Okay and ladies... James Franco will be remembered as MIDSHIPMAN EYE CANDY!!!!!!!!!!Jordana Brewster is NOT a great love interest and their wannabe chemistry is laaaaaaaame and corny! Puleez..she is a horrible actress. On a good note the actor Vic Shannon that plays "twins" is very convincing and you are so relieved that his suicide was unsuccessful..in OAAG you feel bad for Sid dying, but life goes on.I was also surprised that Donnie Walhberg did a great job too..he deserved more screen time and lines. Tyrese was convincing as an asshole SO with a huge ego, but no Foley by far! Hope this helps...I'm writing this on lack of sleep.