Film Review: The Last Fall

Director: Matthew A. Cherry

Life after American Football and sports in general is an incredibly big issue at the moment, the NFL is struggling with so many of their sportsman dying young either through health problems or issues like suicide arising from depression. The Last Fall was released last year at a time when the topic is still a sensitive issue and sheds some light onto the topic of fringe players in professional sports teams.

Although it looks at the untold story of the glitzy world of professional sports where young players are cut from teams and sent back to the real world with no preparation for what they have to deal with. The average career of an NFL player is just 3 years because of the number of players who end up retiring after not making it onto a professional roster. The NFL is the main culprit because none of the contracts are guaranteed (players can sign a 4 year contract and be released the next day and only be owed the signing bonus) and every year 90 players join training camp in the summer competing for just 61 places on each team meaning that a third of players go back to real life jobs hoping for a second chance to impress.

Kyle clearing out his locker in Arizona

Kyle Bishop (Lance Gross) is a professional American Football player who has just been cut mid-season by his team (believed to be Arizona based on a present he has for his mum) and is told by his agent that nobody is interested in his services and that he was lucky to have been given the chance to play for so many different teams. Kyle is faced with the shocking reality of retiring at the age of 25 and moves back in with his mum back in his hometown, initially he hides the fact he's lost his job but soon learns to accept it and slowly makes up with his high school sweetheart. But what will happen when the NFL comes calling again?

Kyle with ex girlfriend Faith

The feature of American Football in the movie is really more of just a backdrop to Kyle going back home to face his family and past that he has ignored for the last few years. Whilst certain aspects are addressed it could have gone further in looking at the issues faced by professional sportsmen who've spent all their money as they've earned it and not looked to a future beyond Football. This really felt like an opportunity missed to bring a forgotten topic to the front of the public's minds.

Kyle's story about going back to his family who he's ignored whilst he was away including his separated Dad who is ill was a well trodden plot line. It was clear to see he would struggle to fit in back home and be accepted by the people he'd forgotten until he proved that he still cared, it became all too predictable at times but the open ending leaving the possibility of a sequel was more surprising. Whether I'm that intrigued to see what happens to Kyle Bishop over another 90mins is a question I'm still not sure I know the answer to yet.

2/4 Should have been much more, great premise turns into formulaic romantic drama