Directed by: Tom Shadyac
Starring: Aldis Hodge, Greg Kinnear, Tiffany Dupont, Sherri Shepherd, Melanie Liburd, Xosha Roquemore
Brian Banks was destined for the NFL as a high school football standout. One day during summer school, Brian and a girl engaged in some making out and light petting underneath the stairs when Brian decides not to go through with having sex. He flees without a word, angering the girl, and soon after he is arrested for rape. He is innocent, but takes an ill-advised plea deal from his incompetent lawyer and spends six years in prison, following by five on parole in which he has to wear an ankle bracelet and is under constant supervision. Brian can't find anyone to hire him, and at age 27, his dreams of realistically playing football in the NFL are slipping away.
With ten months to go before he is done with parole, Brian learns of the California Innocence Project, headed by attorney Justin Brooks (Kinnear), who takes up the cases of the wrongly convicted. Brian is surely innocent, but can't convince Justin to take his case because Justin doesn't feel they can win. Because parole is a prison all its own, Brian understands that once his parole is over, his conviction will stand and forever be on his record. He must get his conviction overturned to have any chance of a normal life. Justin fully believes in Brian's innocence, but is somewhat jaded by a judicial system he is attempting to change.
You know how Brian Banks will turn out. A movie wouldn't have been made if Brian weren't able to successfully overturn his conviction. The movie succeeds or falters on the journey. There are some powerful moments in Brian Banks, along with corny ones and more than a few speeches. Aldis Hodge (City on a Hill) is sympathetic and effective as Brian, who manages to keep hoping and believing even as his frustration with his situation mounts. He has a fledgling relationship with a trainer named Karina (Liburd), one which may never get off the ground because of Brian's past (and Karina's as we learn later).
We meet the loathsome Kennisha (Roquemore), who clearly lied and ruined Brian's life while procuring a $1.5 million settlement from a school district lawsuit following the b.s. accusation. She waffles between telling the truth and protecting the settlement by continuing to persist with the lie, leading to a legal showdown which feels forced, preordained, and not nearly as uplifting as it should be. It's puzzling why this is. Brian Banks is a true story which should've been an emotional slam dunk, but instead we're left with a decent movie with good performances. There should have been more.
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