Anthony Robles (Jharrel Jerome), born with one leg, rises through the ranks of his high-school wrestling team to compete at the highest levels at college. His mother, Judy (Jennifer Lopez), vows to support him even when facing poverty and an abusive husband.
Unstoppable — not to be confused with the Tony Scott train movie from 2010 — is the sports-movie-iest of all sports movies ever to sports-movie. It is Rocky, The Mighty Ducks, Bill Durham and The Blind Side, rolled into one inspirational, dedicational, motivational package. No sports cliché goes unturned in this true underdog rags-to-riches story of one man’s triumph against adversity through physical and mental excellence. But it excavates and reanimates that familiar formula with such charm and brio that it largely wins you over — especially when buoyed by two excellent lead performances.
One of those performances comes from Jharrel Jerome, playing real-life one-legged wrestler Anthony Robles. Born with a congenital amputation (and portrayed in the film with faultless CG paint-out effects), we meet him as an already successful and committed high-school wrestler, looking to make the move to college. He wrestles, and beats, able-bodied wrestlers — the film never explores the backstory of his disability, nor suggests the possibility of him playing in adapted or disability sport — and soon Anthony finds himself on an exceedingly predictable trajectory: to prove himself, to beat his demons (and a fierce rival), and to rise above his humble beginnings to achieve greatness.
That is where the film’s other great performance comes from: Jennifer Lopez, as Anthony’s mother Judy. In a year which has also seen Lopez chase down a terrorist AI robot in an apocalyptic future (Atlas) and dance furiously inside her own steampunk ‘Heart Factory’ (This Is Me… Now: A Love Story), this is Lopez in more grounded, human territory, her best performance since 2019’s Hustlers. She’s excellent value, even if the Erin Brockovich-esque subplot conferred on Judy doesn’t feel entirely relevant. More compelling is her relationship with abusive husband Rick (Bobby Cannavale) and the poisonous relationship he has with Anthony.
This is ultimately Anthony’s story, and even if you could predict the outcome from a country mile away — his greatest opponent, his coach (Don Cheadle) tells him, is “never going to be someone standing across from you on the mat” — the courage and sheer physical commitment from the actors sells the familiar tropes with conviction. Adapted from Robles’ own book — the real-life Robles serves as both producer and Jerome’s stunt double — it was unlikely to be anything less than feel-good hagiography. Director William Goldenberg — a veteran screenwriter making his directorial debut here — plays everything pretty safe. But there is a place for sports movies that have earnest intentions and powerful performances, and Unstoppable possesses both in spades.
Reassuringly formulaic, this is a straightforwardly inspirational-by-numbers sports movie, made watchable thanks to Jharrel Jerome and Jennifer Lopez.