Movie · 2006 · Drama, History · 2h 4m · PG · English
Curator score: 3.2/10 (95.1K ratings)
From the ashes we rose.
Overview
When a plane crash claims the lives of members of the Marshall University football team and some of its fans, the team's new coach and his surviving players try to keep the football program alive.
Ratings
Curator score: 3.2/10
IMDb: 7.1/10
Letterboxd: 3.31/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 48%
Metacritic: 53
TMDB: 6.9/10
Director
McG
Production
Wonderland Sound and Vision, Thunder Road, Legendary Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures
Cast
Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, Anthony Mackie, David Strathairn, Ian McShane, Kate Mara, January Jones, Kate Kneeland, Wes Brown, L. Warren Young, Andrew Wilson Williams, Huntley Ritter, Nina Jones, Tommy Cresswell, Brian Geraghty, Arlen Escarpeta, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Bobby Jordan, Bill Crabb, Amanda Best
Curator Review
Verdict
A sincere, emotionally direct sports-drama built around real tragedy and community resilience. It’s moving and well-intentioned, but also familiar in structure and often more dutiful than distinctive.
Best for
viewers who like inspirational true-story sports dramas
audiences looking for grief-and-healing stories
fans of earnest, crowd-pleasing underdog movies
Skip if
you want a fresh or formally adventurous sports film
you’re allergic to sentimental, on-the-nose inspiration
you prefer deeper character writing over broad uplift
Overview
We Are Marshall is the kind of movie that knows exactly what it wants to do: honor a community shattered by catastrophe and turn that grief into a story of perseverance. It does that with sincerity, and the film’s emotional core is real enough to land even when the screenplay leans hard on familiar beats.
Worth noting
The performances help a lot, especially in the ensemble scenes where loss feels communal rather than just plot-driven. McConaughey brings enough warmth to keep the movie moving, while the supporting cast gives the story a lived-in, regional texture that keeps it from becoming pure cliché.
Bottom line
Still, this is very much a by-the-numbers inspirational drama. It hits the expected notes, sometimes too neatly, and rarely surprises in how it frames healing, leadership, or redemption. If you’re in the mood for a respectful, heartfelt sports tearjerker, it works; if you want something sharper or more original, it may feel routine.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Caleb (1.5★) · 201 likes
Matthew McConaughe talks out of the right side of his mouth the entire movie
Coco (2★) · 87 likes
We didn't hear one "Alright alright alright" from Matthew McConaughey in this movie and that's a tragedy
Sally Jane Black · 65 likes
Interesting to note that while it's not an exploration of race or gender in any way, it also doesn't fuck up with the two non-white male characters with major roles in any significant ways. Both are stories of grief--and they're not exactly deep or nuanced--and that grief (regret, guilt, frustration, loss) overwhelms all other narratives. Her love for her lost fiance certainly defines her story here, but in a way that reveals things about her. His need to be part… more Interesting to note that while it's not an exploration of race or gender in any way, it also doesn't fuck up with the two non-white male characters with major roles in any significant ways. Both are stories of grief--and they're not exactly deep or nuanced--and that grief (regret, guilt, frustration, loss) overwhelms all other narratives. Her love for her lost fiance certainly defines her story here, but in a way that reveals things about her. His need to be part… more
Citizen Kris (3★) · 53 likes
We Are Marshall will easily get lost in the shuffle of better sports films, but it hits the right notes often. It's ultimately a feel-good story about overcoming tragedy.
This movie is greatly cast. And I thought it was wonderfully shot.
After losing the whole football team, the fact that Marshall University even played the next season is a remarkable miracle. That was its win.
65%
bree1981 (4★) · 50 likes
This is the touching true story of a Wast Virginian town pulling itself back together after the majority of the university football team along with the coaches and some fans are wiped out in a plane crash.
This is the kind of town that revolves around its football team and it's on its knees after the tragedy claims the lives of sons, husbands and fathers but a handful of football players who didn't make the trip because of illness and… more This is the touching true story of a Wast Virginian town pulling itself back together after the majority of the university football team along with the coaches and some fans are wiped out in a plane crash.
This is the kind of town that revolves around its football team and it's on its knees after the tragedy claims the lives of sons, husbands and fathers but a handful of football players who didn't make the trip because of illness and… more
2010 · Drama · 1h 56m · R · Curator 7.6/10 (688.8K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A gritty, emotionally charged true-story comeback film with family conflict and hard-won resilience.