What Makes Great Sports Movies So Compelling?

Sports movies, be they biographical or dramas, aren’t seen as the blockbusters that they were in years past. Some truly great films like Raging Bull, Slap Shot, and the Rocky series have stood the test of time, going down as classics, but many movies made since fail to gain the kind of attention that sports movies once enjoyed.

This may be down to many movies trying to replicate the same tropes with less conviction and others focussing on sports or stories that simply aren’t very fit to be dramatized on the big screen. It takes a lot for newer sports movies to be compelling to modern moviegoers, but some have managed to achieve this feat, creating some genuinely great sports movies in the modern era.

Using real-world epics to create compelling cinema

The most commonly played stories in sports movies are those of redemption and the underdog. These stories resonate with audiences because of the human aspects applied to sports stars who are often idolized by millions and sometimes seen as untouchable. They also make for the most intriguing tales in the real world of sports, with teams or athletes able to defy logic and defeat all-conquering entities with the right strategy or a lucky break.

It’s this unpredictability in the real world of sports that gives the form of entertainment such a huge global following. Real people competing against each other in an arena of skill and determination will always be able to create superb stories and is why so many people are compelled by sport outside of merely watching live.

Sports films allow people to see these epic stories unfold at their leisure, and viewers root for the underdog in the film through making predictions just as they would seek to add to the real-life experience with sport betting. For instance, there’s less excitement betting on the New England Patriots to win the 2019/20 NFL season than there is to back a team with less of a chance: many people back the underdogs in sports like boxing and football to enhance the feeling of surprise and euphoria that comes with witnessing a story of someone overcoming the odds. The fact that many of the fondest sports memories come from underdog or redemption moments fuels the belief that those moments can come at any time, making a film that has a story that could follow a similar story that much more appealing.

Modern greats of the genre

Coming alongside the resurgence of popularity in the sport of boxing, the box office has seen many boxing movies of late. Southpaw headlined the newer run of movies, providing a compelling and powerful story of redemption that put a focus on the protagonist’s struggles as opposed to being overly heavy on the boxing scenes. Plus, it had some top-class acting from Jake Gyllenhaal and Forest Whitaker. Next in line is another movie based around boxing but focuses on the story of the boxer out of the ring, Bleed for This.

Starring Miles Teller, Bleed for This wasn’t billed as a boxing movie by producer Bruce Cohen as it’s more about the themes surrounding the incredible comeback of a boxer who was told he’d never box again. Not on the same level as Southpaw and Bleed for This, Creed and Creed II provide decent viewing, and despite its holes and chop-and-change focus, Hands of Stone is an entertaining movie within the sports genre.

Other fairly recent sports movies like Ali, 42, Rush, The Wrestler, Remember the Titans, The Fighter, and Warrior also serve as great films within the sports genre. This is mainly because they focus on the human and the stories surrounding their time in the sport, bolstering the characters with tales of their struggles.

Great sports movies often follow similar overall steps in their stories, but they are able to be so compelling because they use the tropes of redemption and the underdog story to sell the characters, mostly using the sport itself almost as a plot device.

We are compelled to watch these films the many underdog and redemption stories that we’ve witnessed in real life sports stick with us and entertain us long past the event itself.