Concussion (2015)

Movie Info 

Will Smith stars in this dramatic sports thriller as Dr. Bennet Omalu who uncovers the truth linking unexplained brain trauma to football. This is based off of the true story involving the David vs. Goliath story of American immigrant Dr. Omalu, the brilliant forensic neuropathologist who made the first known discovery of CTE, a football-related brain trauma, in a pro player and fought for the truth to be known. He places himself in danger with the NFL, one of the largest conglomerates, when he pushes for the truth to come out.

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Drama, Sport

Directed By: Peter Landesman 

Written By: Peter Landesman and Jeanne Marie Laskas 

Run Time: 2 Hours, 3 Minutes

Review

Let me start out by saying that I loved the premise. It’s very important from both a social standpoint and a scientific one, however, I found that Landesman wasted a bit too much time on Omalu and his wife. It was sweet, but it took away from the movie. I think this was for sure one of Will Smith’s best and most challenging roles. He portrayed Dr. Omalu in a beautiful way. The movie may have moved at a snail’s place, but I honestly didn’t mind. It had me hooked from the beginning.

The science behind the discovery was fascinating to learn and try to understand. This film did a great job at showing how much determination can do for a person. Will Smith was the underdog in this story and watching his character excel was truly inspiring.

The movie was a bit less successful at explaining and portraying the consequences Omalu had supposedly endured for telling the truth about his discovery. We see Omalu’s wife have a miscarriage, most likely due to stress, and we see him get a nasty phone call or two as well as his boss getting arrested but other than that, we didn’t get anything at all really.

Overall, this film had substance and an enduring and engaging story that was both inspiring and very interesting to watch. I would recommend this mainly for Will Smith’s character development and portrayal of Dr. Bennet Omalu.