It’s been a while since we had a good, old fashioned sports redemption movie, in which the power of sports heals old wounds, brings communities together and helps make peace with the demons of the past. But now The Way Back promises to add another link of the chain of this storied genre, starring Ben Affleck as a washed-up alcoholic who gets his shot at personal redemption as the coach of a luckless basketball team.
Even if you can probably predict most of the movie’s beats here, there’s still reason to be interested. Director Gavin O’Connor made the excellent Warrior and it’s always good to see Affleck in blue-collar workman mode. We’ll see how it pans out in March.