Review: 'Crooked Arrows', starring Brandon Routh

Now what happens when a young rich guy comes back into the town he grew up in and ends up taking charge of a team of lovable losers who must come together and learn how to be a team? Oh wait…you’ve seen this before? What you saw was about hockey.  Oh but that isn’t this, see this film is about Lacrosse and a team of native American teenagers learning more about their culture and the sport.  This film is called Crooked Arrows and yes it is essentially The Mighty Ducks in a different setting but it still has some heart.

The film centers on Joe Logan, played by Brandon Routh, the manager of the local casino on a Reservation. He needs to convince the tribal council to let him expand the casino into more land so that he can build a hospital for the tribe. His father, Ben, feels he has lost his way and the council agrees to the Casino expansion as long as he does one thing his father wishes. His father wants him to take over the Lacrosse team and coach them into bring back honor to the team and community.

Over the course of the movie we learn more about Joe Logan and his past as this great high school Lacrosse player. And Joe's past with the current schoolteacher who was his high school girlfriend and his tense relationship with his tribe and how he exploits their culture in the casino. All the performances in this movie are all decent enough. To tell the truth movies feels like something you watch on ABC family channel. I’m surprised that they so closely used the structure of other films like The Mighty Ducks or The Bad NewsBears as much as they did. At times it really takes you out of the movie because you’re having this huge sense of movie déjà vu.

This movie overall isn’t really terrible but it isn’t great either. Not enough that you want to sit in the theater for an hour and a half of your nice spring day to see. It is nice see Native Americans portrayed in a positive light and not as victims per se or drunk or addicts of some sort. It’s also a decent enough family film, something kids might enjoy but really this can be waited on for rental or Netflix in the future. Crooked Arrows might be one you should leave in the quiver.