The tagline for Concussion that we’ll probably hear plenty of times over the next four months is “The film the NFL doesn’t want you to see!”
But the story of traumatic brain injuries among NFL players, the doctors who tried to bring the issue to light and the league’s denial that such a problem was taking place will not go away quietly when it’s the subject of a major motion picture starring one of the world’s biggest movie stars.
At the risk of adding to any hyperbole, this is probably one of the most anticipated films of 2016, if for no other reason than the NFL’s prominence in our pop culture. This is the very dark side of the sport so many of us enjoy, one which has some fans wondering if they can continue to support a venture that doesn’t seem to take the health of its players seriously.
Here is the first trailer for Concussion:
Within minutes of the trailer’s release, several film and culture writers speculated that this film could lead to awards consideration for Will Smith. It’s certainly promising to see Smith get a strong dramatic role to sink his teeth into after his career has hit a bit of a dry patch with the less-than-enthusiastic reception for After Earth and Focus. But between Concussion and next summer’s Suicide Squad, Smith appears to be on the rebound. When was the last time Smith had a really good dramatic role to show his talents? Seven Pounds in 2008? That’s quite a dry period for him.
Smith’s IMDB page shows he has other good parts lined up after Concussion, including the Hurricane Katrina drama The American Can and Collateral Beauty, in which he plays a man suffering from depression following a personal tragedy. If those movies sound too heavy, Smith also has two Bad Boys sequels in the works. And if Suicide Squad is a hit, he will likely play assassin Deadshot again in another DC Comics film. (That is, if Deadshot makes it through the first movie.)
But Smith’s performance as Dr. Bennet Omalu — the neuropathologist who first discovered CTE, the degenerative brain disease found in athletes who suffer repeated brain trauma — is sure to prompt a lot of discussion on news programs, magazine and website profiles, and sports talk radio shows, eager to discuss the NFL’s culpability in such injuries and/or the accuracy of the film’s depiction of real events. (Dave Duerson, Mike Webster and Andre Waters are among the NFL players portrayed in the movie.)
Doesn’t “Concussion” look like “The Insider” for this generation, w/ the NFL in the tobacco industry role? I mean… http://t.co/MnoRWnQR4P
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) August 31, 2015
Buzz figures to build considerably during the NFL season. (Will the NFL balk at Sony buying advertising for the film on game broadcasts?) And the film’s release date coincides nicely with the end of the regular season schedule (in addition to prime Academy Awards showcasing).
Concussion, directed by Peter Landesman (Parkland) and also starring Alec Baldwin, Luke Wilson and Albert Brooks, opens in theaters Dec. 25.
