Annapolis

This review was written for the theatrical release of "Annapolis."

NEW YORK -- Packing in enough cliches for a dozen movies, this drama about a sensitive young man trying to achieve his dreams via the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis will best be enjoyed by the generation unfamiliar with "An Officer and a Gentlemen," "Top Gun" and any preceding boxing movies. James Franco -- playing the sort of role that James Dean, whom he once played in a television film, would have excelled in -- should find slightly better boxoffice results with this effort than he did with his other January starrer, "Tristan & Isolde," but only by default.

The impressively beefed-up young actor plays Jake Huard, who is struggling to escape his family destiny working in the Annapolis shipyard. By sheer determination, he wangles his way into the academy, a feat that doesn't seem to impress his emotionally distant (naturally) father (Brian Goodman).

There, he faces the inevitable grueling boot camp life, along with a group of bunkmates whose racial diversity is perfectly in keeping with war movie tradition. There's the black kid, Twins (Vicellous Shannon), whose overwhelming fondness for Twinkies threatens to scuttle his chances; the rigorously disciplined Asian, Loo (Roger Fan, who excelled in director Justin Lin's indie debut effort, "Better Luck Tomorrow"); and the hot-tempered Hispanic, Estrada (Wilmer Calderon).

Needless to say, Huard soon runs up against up against his hard-edged superiors, most notably the steely company commander Lt. Cole (Tyrese Gibson). The young plebe decides to exact revenge by beating Cole in the Navy boxing competition, a process that fortunately requires training by Ali (Jordana Brewster), an impossibly gorgeous female midshipman.

Dave Collard's derivative script doesn't miss a beat in mining the stock situations for the requisite drama -- yes, one of the plebes makes a suicide attempt -- and laughs. Although crudely effective in a strictly formulaic way, the film manages to strike nary an unfamiliar note. And such lines of dialogue as "You look like a girl" don't exactly resonate with originality, either.

Perhaps the biggest problem is the casting of Brewster, who, unlike Kelly McGillis in "Top Gun," doesn't begin to convey an ounce of authoritative bearing, let alone any credibility as a boxing instructor. Her presence should, however, guarantee an immediate spike in Naval Academy applications.

Annapolis
Buena Vista Pictures
Touchstone Pictures
Credits:
Director: Justin Lin
Screenplay: Dave Collard
Producers: Damien Saccani, Mark Vahradian
Executive producer: Steve Nicolaides
Director of photography: Phil Abraham
Production designer: Patti Podesta
Film editor: Fred Raskin
Costume designer: Gloria Gresham
Music: Brian Tyler
Cast:
Jake Huard: James Franco
Cole: Tyrese Gibson
Ali: Jordana Brewster
Lt. Cmdr. Burton: Donnie Wahlberg
Twins: Vicellous Shannon
Loo: Roger Fan
Whitaker: McCaleb Burnett
Estrada: Wilmer Calderon
McNally: Chi McBride
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 105 minutes