# Directors: Justin Lin
# Rating: PG-13
# Release Date: 27 January 2006 (USA)
# Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
# DVD Release Date: June 27, 2006
# Run Time: 103 minutes

# Actors: James Franco, Macka Foley, Jim Parrack, Donnie Wahlberg, Brian Goodman

50,000 Apply. 1,200 Are Accepted. Only The Best Survive.
Working-class tough guy Jake Huard (James Franco) gets a chance to make good when he’s accepted into the famed Annapolis Naval Academy but his buddies and dad back at the shipyard doubt he’ll last a month. The film moves through his first year at the academy culminating in the big boxing tournament which is Huard’s chance to get revenge against his stoic-beyond-the-call-of-duty senior officer Cole (Tyrese Gibson). First though the closed-off Huard must learn to ask for help which arrives via a warmly attractive senior officer played by Jordanna Brewster (THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS). ANNAPOLIS’s director Justin Lin (BETTER LUCK TOMORROW) brings an unpretentious visual approach to this film; he lets the story flow straight as an arrow sweeping viewers up into the daunting rigors and the developing camaraderie of this challenging environment. A muscular orchestral score by Brian Tyler pushes everything along with maximum heart and impact and the rich cinematography creates an invigorating sense of you-are-there closeness which by the time the story gets to the climactic fight is breathlessly intense. The standout performance is Gibson’s–so composed and elegantly tough he’s like a coiled spring. Brewster is also good lending a welcome contrast of feminine warmth to the sometimes cold world of military discipline. As an inspiring tale of rising up and beating your limitations ANNAPOLIS makes the grade.

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