The story is very interesting and it was definitely a good idea making a movie out of this man's life - unfortunately, the movie does not do "The Rocket" justice. Many interesting facts or ideas are not followed through - every time you think that there's finally going to be something explored in more depth, the movie moves on to something else; and it's a pity. For instance, Maurice Richard's relationship with his brother-in-law isn't very clear. His brother-in-law appears quite often in the movie, but it is not quite clear why that is the case. He is always asking for better tickets for the games, and that's it. He never seems to get them, but we are never told why, or why this should be relevant to the movie. There is also a very short passage about gambling, but nothing comes of that either. Same thing with Richard's children. And what is probably the most important subject of the movie, the oppression of the Québécois in their own province and in Canada in general, falls completely flat. Hardly any context on this highly sensitive and political issue is given, and it is not clear whether Richard's actions did anything to improve the situation; it would have been nice to get a bit more information on that count. All in all, it is a very superficial movie, which is a pity because the subject-matter could have been used in such a way to make a very good film.
Review of The Rocket
