Brian Banks Movie Review

Brian Banks (2018)

Rent The Mummy on Amazon Video
Written by: Doug Atchison
Directed by: Tom Shadyac
Starring: Aldis Hodge, Melanie Liburd, Sherri Shepherd, Greg Kinnear
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer

Plot
A football player's dreams to play in the NFL are halted when he is wrongly convicted and sent to prison. Years later he fights to clear his name within an unjust system.

Verdict
It's a by the numbers look at how the justice system can fail people. While this doesn't seem like a feel good movie, by the end everything comes together just right. While the ending is predictable, that doesn't lessen the impact. Half way in this movie was just alright, but by the end I really liked it. A big reason is that Aldis Hodge does a great job. He's charismatic while also being very vulnerable.
Watch it.

Review
One of the first scenes in Brian Banks playing football at Long Beach College. He's on parole and a new law requiring an ankle monitor ends his stint at the college. We don't know what Brian did at this point but we see how hard it is to find a job when you've been convicted. Being on the sex offender list makes it all but impossible to find work. He finally gets a job moving equipment, but has to quit when a moving job is too close to a school. He can't even finish his shift.

If you're been convicted of a crime, there is no way to succeed. What makes this all the worse is that Brian is innocent. The movie doesn't play with both sides of the story, it's understood Brian is innocent. That's what makes his situation all the worse. It's one thing for prison to be a barrier to everything you do, but even worse if you didn't commit a crime. While a big point of the movie is that Brian was a standout athlete that would have played in the NFL, that just underscores the consequences of a false accusation not that his situation is worse than someone that isn't an athlete.

A lot of people are in the position of innocent but convicted. Brian tries to convince the California Innocence Project to help him, but they're reluctant since Brian has been paroled and so many other people that need help are still suffering in a cell.

Alids Hodge plays Brian Banks

Aldis Hodge does a great job. He's likable and believable as Brian.  The movie does a great job of setting the premise and delving deeper into the events and consequences. Though the movie hits a lot of the common notes you'd expect in a movie about the justice system.

Greg Kinnear and Aldis Hodge

Brian's parole officer at one point stops him from meeting his lawyer by alleging Brian has drugs in his car. That doesn't seem like it would be legal, but I don't know. The parole officer is portrayed as a bit of a foe. It just reinforced how broken the system is.

When Brian's alleged victim Kennisha contacts him on Facebook he sees this as a chance to ask her to tell the truth. Her original statement was acknowledged as changing every time during the original trial. Kennisha is written a bit flat. Can she really be this out of touch? Yes. Writing her like that allows her to wrongly accuse Brian but not bear the full burden of guilt. She didn't do it with malicious intent, but that also in no way excuses what she did. All of the characters get a way out with the blame being put on the system. People make up that system. One of the few characters that doesn't get some kind of pass is Brian's original lawyer who seemed terrible. She told him he'd get no jail time if he pleaded no contest, and he immediately went to jail.

This is a tough topic, but by the end it's almost a feel good story. This ends on a really uplifting moment that makes the whole movie better. Half way in this was a solid if unremarkable movie. While it ends just like I thought it would, that doesn't make it a bad ending.