"Struck by thunder" - even an NBA star can't save lean production

"Struck by thunder" - even an NBA star can't save lean production

Familiar script, weak acting and lack of surprising moments

There are a number of sports movies that rely on a big star from the game in question to make the production watchable. However, this is not always a sign of quality and success. Similar is the case with the American family film "Struck by Thunder", or in English "Thunderstruck". Directed by John Whitesell, the movie hit the big screen on August 24, 2012 and stars NBA professional basketball player Kevin Durant, who is still one of the biggest stars in the NBA.

The script revolves around a magical moment when a 16-year-old kid manages to steal Durant's abilities, and the two must figure out how it happened so that the star player can get back to his strong moments with the Oklahoma City Thunder .

The main character's name is Brian. He doesn't have any skills to practice basketball, which leads to ridicule from his classmates when he tries to make the high school team. Brian's sister makes a funny video of him injuring himself, and through one of the players on the Eagles team, it becomes popular throughout the school. The boy's father takes him to a game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Detroit Pistons to cheer him up. By absolute luck, he was chosen to shoot from the center during the break and instead of sending the ball to the basket, he hit the team mascot. Later, however, he meets Kevin Durant and expresses his great desire to become like him. The basketball player presents Brian with an autographed ball, through which he manages to magically take the player's powers and in the second half, his shooting becomes extremely inaccurate, after missing all 13 shots at the basket.

The next day, Brian sees that his classmate Connor has shared the video showing the missed shot from center court. Shortly after, however, the new talent manages to outshine the school team's best athlete, winning a game that Connor can't. The prize from her goes to the girlfriend of his bad classmate and the girl Brian is secretly in love with - Isabelle.

After a few more impressive performances, the boy tried out for the "Eagles" team again and managed to win over the coach with his qualities. Brian also became the captain of the team, which accumulated several victories in a row. Durant's agent sees this and realizes it's the kid missing a shot from downtown in comical fashion. This raises doubts about whether Bryant stole Durant's talent. The two begin training together, but the NBA basketball player's skills never return.

In the end, the child figures out how to restore the star's powers after an argument with his beloved Isabelle regarding the change in his character as well. Durant gets his powers back and qualifies the Thunder for the playoffs. Although without his magical abilities, with a lot of nerves and a far less good game, Bryan became a hero for the Eagles, who reached the state final for the first time in 32 years with his game-winning basket.

This whole story comes to suggest that there is nothing surprising about a simple sports movie. Again, the idea of the underdog who manages to achieve unexpected victories is at stake. However, in this case, there is also an unreal, magical moment that helps with this. All in all, a story that would be interesting primarily to a children's audience. More serious viewers of "Struck by Thunder" will not enjoy good acting, unexpected moments, surprising scenes or any serious directorial creativity.

The script can also be found in a number of other films that are even far better executed. Teenage love, where a bullied kid wants and manages to change, but ends up having enough qualities to impress the unattainable girl, is such a hackneyed element that it can't even be given the attention it deserves in this film .

There are some funny moments, there are some interesting performances, but even the loss of Kevin Durant's qualities and his role in "Struck by Thunder" cannot be overstated. Supporting roles such as that of the captain of the Eagles and classmate of Brian Connor, that of the main character's sister, the team coach, Isabelle and everyone in general are nothing special. It looks like it was all shot on a low budget, with not a lot of retakes and an edit that lasted no more than a few hours.

If you've got nothing else to do, or want to show your older kids something that's very likely to keep them in front of a screen for an hour and a half, then Struck by Thunder might do the trick. However, this film definitely falls far short of the expectations one might have for it.