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DVD Review: Friday Night Lights (Blu-ray)
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Jack Bauerstein83   |  

Friday Night Lights
Blu-ray Edition (2004)
Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Derek Luke, Tim McGraw
Directed by Peter Berg
Universal Home Entertainment
Release Date: January 6, 2009

Coming from a big city, I have yet to encounter true football country. Sure, when the New York Giants or the New York Jets have a great season, there is definite playoff excitement in the air but when the games are over, the city continues. It moves on and moves onto the next sport on the list. For some towns and some cities, the whole area lives and breathes football whether the season is on or not. The town of Odessa, TX, is certainly one of these types of towns and their Permian Panthers is the subject of the 2004 movie Friday Night Lights, now on Blu-ray.

The year is 1988 and the Permian Panthers with coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton) are beginning their new season and things are starting out terribly. Their star player James “Boobie” Miles gets hurt at the end of a game and is unable to play for the rest of the season. Gaines’ decision to leave Miles in the game is questioned by the entire town and he slowly drops out of their favor. Gaines’ players have their own problems to deal with, ranging from drunk abusive fathers to unbalanced mothers who need care. With all this stacked up against them the Panthers still found something within themselves to produce a rather successful football season.

When this movie first came out, I doubt many people outside of a big city knew just how important football is to many of these towns. Watching this movie now, the theme still rings true today. When the coaches do a poor job or the players play poorly, the town lets them know it. Either by sticking for sale signs all over the coaches lawn or yelling at the players on talk radio, these people take their football seriously. Writers David Aaron Cohen and Peter Berg do their best to adapt the book by the same name and make it into an entertaining film and they do just that.

The football sequences are just amazing to watch. Whether it is during practice or out on the field during a game, the film makes you feel as if you are right there on the field with the other players. You can hear every bone-crunching play and scream from the players. Director Peter Berg always has a knack for filming action sequences and it shows in this movie. This film also allows Berg to shoot some more quiet moments, such as a former football player telling the current guard to take the title home.

There are very few notable actors in the movie itself. The football team consists of some lesser known actors like Derek Luke and some even familiar faces from other professions, like singer Tim McGraw. The only major actor in this film is Billy Bob Thornton as Gaines. Thornton adds just the right amount of warmth and toughness to the Gaines character and gives one of his better performances of his career.

The extras on the Blu Ray DVD are those you would find on the standard DVD. I think the only reason one would purchase the Blu-ray version would be for the quality. The picture is gorgeous and crystal clear.

If you are a fan of Friday Night Lights and do not already have it on DVD, you can’t do anything better than the Blu-ray version.

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