4 Minute Mile

4 Minute Mile

“4 Minute Mile” tries, at least, to admit its recognition of its clichéd underdog sports movie status especially those that made “The Karate Kid” a classic ‘80s film.

Kelly Blatz starring as Drew, the problem-riddled yet talented high school runner doesn’t comprehend why Coleman (Richard Jenkins), an aging alcoholic coach has him doing manual work in place of training him for the regional track meet. Among his most arduous tasks were sanding down the coach’s old boat while he watched and smoked one cigarette after another. “Wax on, wax off,” Coleman says with a sneer.

This rare moment of humor is used by Director Charles-Olivier Michaud and writers Josh Campbell and Jeff Van Wie to say it all for us viewers. However, they do not relent from going through a list of genre conventions. We see the good hearted kid from the wrong side of the tracks; a mentor looking for redemption; a competitor who loves trash talk; a mom trying to hold her family together and an encouraging girlfriend. The montages oh, how many montages they are! Quoting lines from Team America: World Police’s song we even find out “Even ‘Rocky’ had a montage.”

Still Justin Johnson’s 4 Minute Mile is story efficient like running itself should be and these two actors have great chemistry. As is typical with Jenkins’ roles, he animates this stereotypical material just by being there; making intelligent choices and bringing emotional tact to even the most predictable scenes.

Nevertheless, he has quite some work ahead since his character constantly utters hammy lines meant to make him sound inspirational. “Running is not just physical. It’s in your head,” said Coleman when accepting to train Drew for the first time. And again during another theme concerning running away from inner demons – “It will change your life if you face that fear”.

Drew has certainly had more than his fair share of adversity in his young life. When he was a child, his father died and now ten years on, he lives with his heavily tattooed brother (Cam Gigandet) and mother (Kim Basinger), who is barely there anymore. Wes gets Drew who has to collect money for a local drug dealer from him since he’s the only one that can make it without causing suspicion. It’s obvious that this agreement will not pan out well.

Drew, however, has prospects. He is quick. Having been kicked off the high school track team for mouthing off continuously however, Drew maintains a friendly flirtation with fellow runner Lisa (who has an unusual charm but is mainly used as eye candy). It is then that Coleman spots something special in Drew and offers to teach him everything he knows if he changes events from 440 to the mile while also trying to run four minutes in that distance as hard as possible. And at last when Drew most needs a father figure there comes Coleman who happens to need a son because sadly his own son who was also talented runner got killed in an accident involving car hit by car. There could not be anything more convenient or formulaic than all this story line.

Coleman is like the Mr. Miyagi, a lonely old man who drinks heavily to numb his pain. However, there is something magical about him cutting himself off from others. Is it likely that by working with this unfriendly young person they both can improve their lives?

Although Drew must first accept Coleman’s unusual training methods, for example he has to run fifteen-second sprints in ankle-deep water, pull a gigantic tyre from one end of a swimming pool to the other, and go on quarter-mile laps around the docks instead of on a slick and shiny track. At sunset Drew goes for runs within his neighborhood, through city streets and parking lots in slow motion.

However “Four Minute Mile” is refreshingly subdued when compared to most movies that follow its premise too closely and ends up less sentimental than the material might lead you believe. Michaud vividly portrays the blue-collar Washington settings. While Blatz’s character is essentially monotonous beyond his good looks, he does well physically which is essential taking into account that all he does throughout almost the entire movie is run or talk about running or plan how to do it.

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