Review of Concussion

Concussion tells the story of Dr. Ben Omalu and his struggle to bring to light the dangers of head trauma within the NFL. As his studies intensify, so do the attempts to silence and discredit him and those around him. The film starts with former Pittsburgh Steelers player, Mike Webster (David Morse) and his psychotic behavior that eventually leads to his untimely death at 50. When his autopsy is completed by Dr. Omalu (Will Smith), it is discovered that his days playing for the NFL may be directly responsible for his behavior. This is about as far as Concussion goes in regards to that storyline, the rest of the film goes downhill from here. The start of the film is promising, featuring David Morse as Mike Webster and giving an awesome performance under heavy prosthetics that, despite how obvious it is, gets the job done. Will Smith is a real stand out here as he should be. His performance as Ben Omalu is great and refreshing to see that Smith still has these types of performances left in him. If anything, Smith is getting better the older he gets. Alec Baldwin is another stand out here and correctly compliments Will Smith's thunderous performance. One of the disappointments of the film is Luke Wilson, not because his performance is bad or he is miscast, he's barely in it. It would have been nice to see more scenes with him. Now, the film itself is nowhere near the caliber of it's cast. Writer/Director Peter Landesman has a grasp of his actors but fails to elevate the source material above anything more than an average medical drama. The one thing that is almost overbearing is the music and the placement of the music. The score is ridiculously dramatic and epic sounding, so much so that you would think it is from a Ridley Scott action film. It just simply over the top. The pacing of the film is also a very hard thing to get passed, the beginning fires like a bullet and then the film slumps for the next hour and a half. It makes for a very lop sided, borderline boring film. Overall, Concussion demonstrates Will Smith in top form as is the rest of the cast but the film is too lop sided for it's own good.