Spike Lee's latest is a basketball fable. The film stars the intense Denzel Washington (unafraid to not look like his usual debonair self) as Jake Shuttlesworth, the imprisoned father of the country's #1 high school basketball prospect. Milwaukee Buck Ray Allen plays the son, Jesus Shuttlesworth, who in one week must declare if he will go to college (which one) or proceed directly to the NBA draft (ala Kobe Bryant). Jesus faces tremendous pressure form all who surround him (and want a piece of him) in deciding his future. The story begins when his father is let out of Attica for that week to convince his son to attend Big State, the governor's alma mater. If Jesus goes to Big State, the governor will cut his father's sentence short.
He Got Game is powerful on many levels but it is also flawed. The relationship between Jake and Jesus is complicated. Jake had pushed his son (perhaps too hard) in an effort to make him something more than the father was ever able to do in his own life. This led to many battles between Jake and Jesus (who is also a little bit upset at being named Jesus). The relationship is further strained by Jake's (accidental?) killing of Jesus' mother, Mary (seen as a serene Madonna figure). The other strong component of this film is its mythic portrayal of basketball. Visually, the basketball sequences are stirring - sepia-drenched and faded. These scenes are also all set to Aaron Copland music and it works in capturing the emotion and hopes this game has created in this country.
The biggest problem I had with He Got Game is Spike Lee's image of women. They are seen as saintly figures like Mary, Jesus' mother, or misunderstood prostitutes (why is this character even in the movie - she absolutely serves no purpose), or scheming bitches like Jesus' girlfriend, Lala. Spike Lee's portrayal of women seems one-dimensional. Women are all just p**** to him - a frequently used word in this movie and are likened to two other things that serve to bring men down: drugs and alcohol.
Lee also tries to squeeze too much into He Got Game. He has two story lines that seem to serve no purpose at all. First, Jake has a romance of sorts with a hooker (Milla Jovovich) who is living next door to him in a flea bag motel and second, the parole officers who dog his heels but serve no dramatic purpose at all. These scenes are the weakest in the film and detract from what should be on-screen: the depiction of the father-son relationship. Finally, Lee's ending seems to lack originality and I found that disappointing. He shamelessly reuses the image from the final scene of The Natural - the ball in flight connecting father and son - to end He Got Game.