Borg vs. McEnroe (2017)

What Rush did for Hunt and Lauda, Borg McEnroe succeeds in kind. A great movie with great performances by both actors, who I believe, paid homage to both men they portrayed. The story, which I expected to be a bore, was quite gripping and provided much insight into what made these two icons of the sport so unique... In fact, dare I say, it managed to make the sport more appealing as a whole. And made for an appreciation of the subject which I hadn't previously had.

Dare I say that I would love another in this line of movies... Perhaps a Sampras Agassi movie. There would certainly be some great back story to be had there as well.

Fmovies: When IMDb closed down it's comment section, I pretty much quit this site. But I had to log in again to do this movie some justice.

It's good. It's really really good.

It starts out a bit slow and Shia LaBeouf is not exactly a good actor; but he pulls off an impressive performance in this movie. I actually forgot that it was him playing the part about halfway in. Sverrir Gudnason however is the one who really deserves all the praise. He carries this movie throughout. His resemblance to Björn both in form and behavior is almost uncanny.

The strength in this movie his however the script. It flows. The character introduction is brief, the script is well balanced between past, present and future. It builds up really nicely to the third act, and it pays off.

Rarely do I feel satisfied after watching a movie these days. But this was a grand slam. I highly highly recommend it.

In full disclosure, I am a tennis player and as a boy I idolized McEnroe. I admired Borg a great deal as well. What made this match and all of their matches so great and so riveting was their completely opposing approaches to the game. Borg was the greatest baseliner to play the game. It was nearly impossible to get get the ball by him. His steadiness and zen-like approach to the game gave birth to many baseliners in his wake, most notably someone like Andre Aggasi. McEnroe was was the first ever punk rock athelete. No player in history had shown so much anger and rage, but mostly so much desire to win. It was raw rock n roll. It was a bit of a paradox because though he was a punk rocker in his attitude and in his passion, his game was a throwback to Rod Laver. He was an artist on the court. On any given point you might see topspin forehands, slice backhands, drop shots, lobs, breath taking volleys, and backhand overheads. He had a complete game. While Borg was content to outhit his opponents, McEnroe was eager to cut the points short. He would take every opportunity to come into the net and display his artistry.

Of course none of this is apparent in the film. The problem with sports films is that most actors are not atheletes. So a director has to be inventive in his camera work to cover the fact that his actors don't know how to play. A rally with Borg might go 15 Strokes. Tennis is about court position. For McEnroe to beat Borg he had to chose his spots. When is the right time to approach the net? Where do you hit the ball when you are there? Shia was quoted as saying that he despised tennis and he hopes to never play again. He clearly chose this roll, not to impress us with his tennis skills, but because he wanted to play McEnroe the man.

This film unfortunately climaxes with the finals match at Wimbledon, normally something I would enjoy because after all this film is about tennis, but it is shot so horribly that you never see Borg hitting back 10-15 groundstrokes. You never see his unquie at the time, 2 handed backhand Vs Mac's classical one handed. You never see Borg trying to pass Mac at the net. You never see the tennis artistry of McEnroe at all in this film. The way it is shot you really only see the the players heads and quick 2 stroke rallies which is like going to see Miles Davis play Mary had a Little Lamb for 2 hours.

I feel bad for tennis players because they will feel cheated like I did by this film, but I feel worse the non-tennis fans because they will walk away from this film and completely miss how revolutionary and inspiring these two great athletes are. They might just shrug and say "what's the big deal?"

That is a crime.

Borg vs. McEnroe fmovies. I watched this final. I remember the hype. The film captures it perfectly. And where, oh where did they manage to find an actor that looks so much like Borg as Sverrir Gudnason!! Very enjoyable and took me back to 1981. Leboef is great, but he was never going to capture the look like Sverrir Gudnason did!

Despite not being a sporty person (always one of the subjects that saw me struggling most in school, particularly when it came to co-ordination and sometimes speed), that doesn't stop me from finding some of them interesting to watch portrayed in television matches and film.

Tennis is one of the more interesting and easy to watch sports to me and this particular story is one of the most fascinating in the history of the sport. 'Borg vs McEnroe' was seen for those reasons and on the most part it doesn't disappoint. There may be better biopics around, but 'Borg vs McEnroe' both intrigues and entertains, it's emotion-filled, affectionate, absorbing and mostly respectful. Anyone who loves tennis or is fascinated by the story or biopics in general will find a lot to like about 'Borg vs McEnroe' and despite the 15 certificate, for some swearing and some topless shots (that one can find for themselves as to whether they find them necessary or not), it's more accessible than one would think.

Borg's story has a little more flesh, although McEnroe is the more colourful character in personality, Borg being calmer and McEnroe being more extroverted. Borg's story has a lot of genuine power and really resonates emotionally. McEnroe is still interesting, but his relationship with his parents could have been expanded upon more which would have made some of his motivations clearer.

Furthermore the title cards are cheesy and over-explanatory, also making broad statements like at the start and doing nothing to back them up. The Studio 54 nightclub scene didn't serve much point and the representation of the media, while perhaps not too far from the truth, was on the heavy-handed and extreme side.

On the other hand, 'Borg vs McEnroe' is very solidly made visually, nicely shot and does nothing to undermine any transitions or shifts. The music complements well and Janus Metz directs with clear passion and enthusiasm for the subject.

Scripting is intelligent and thought-provoking, it intrigues and entertains throughout and does well in allowing one to care for the characters and the story while also having a lot of heart that makes 'Borg vs McEnroe' very moving. The story is both uplifting and poignant, structurally it's always cohesive and rarely disjointed even if some parts are better explored than others. The tennis sequences capture the excitement and tension of the sport very compellingly and accurately.

A huge part of what makes 'Borg vs McEnroe' work so well is the cast. Sverrir Gudnason is excellent as Borg, and no it's not just the uncanny physical resemblance, it's how poignantly collected he is and how he plays the role with depth and intensity. Stellan Skarsgard brings a lot of subtlety and quiet dignity, while Tuva Novotny, David Bamber and Robert Emms do more than serviceably making their characters more than caricatures (although not a lot of attention is given to their development enough). Was most surprised by Shia LaBeouf in one of his best and most committed performances as McEnroe, providing that he is more than capable when making good choices and when the material allows it.

In summary, very intriguing and well done. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Borg vs McEnroe presents a powerful and well-made portrait of two tennis rivals under immense psychological stress. Despite this, it may fail to stick in the minds of non-tennis enthusiasts. Borg vs McEnroe is like many sports movies in that it focuses on the mindset of the individual players to heighten the drama. However, it is unique in its presentation of the contrast between Borg and McEnroe; two brilliant rivals who experience excruciating inner and outer pressure, but who deal with it in different ways. The film manages to convey near-complete psychological portraits of the two tennis stars through a combination of flashbacks, character interactions, and scenes on the court. The film succeeds due to its skillful cinematography and powerful performances from Sverrir Gudnason (Borg) and Shia LaBeouf (McEnroe). Borg vs McEnroe feels comfortable using unique shots and cuts to portray a certain emotion or action sequence, but it doesn't overuse any techniques so as to distract from the reality of the events. Thus, the use of dramatic cinematic embellishments rarely feels overly theatrical or out of place. The second main strength of the movie is the two performances from Gudnason and LaBeouf. The actors accent the emotional torment that the tennis figures faced, and without such strong performances the movie wouldn't have been worth the watch. The real value of Borg vs McEnroe is the questions it raises about success and perceptions of success, and it highlights the fact that the media's portrayal of athletes rarely tells the whole story. But the movie is clearly building towards the great match between Borg and McEnroe, and so that promise must be fulfilled. The final tennis scene is done effectively, but it is not strong enough to bring the whole movie to a close. For those who are unaware of how the match turned out, the third act will be riveting. For those who know the end result, they may feel that it drags out a little longer than necessary. One choice by the filmmakers that undermines the final scene was their obvious bias towards Borg by focusing on his flashbacks and emotions over those of McEnroe. Ultimately, the movie's strengths overshadow its weaker points; Borg vs McEnroe is a solid biographical sports film, even if it can't quite mix sports thrills with an in-depth character analysis.