I remember when the whole Lance Armstrong story broke that he was going to confess there were a lot of differing opinions on the matter. A surprisingly high percentage of people seemed to see nothing wrong with what he did, and would have been happy for him to keep his Tour de France titles. Personally, I have zero interest in cycling. To me it is possibly the dullest sport known to man, and I couldn't care less about the athletes and what they're doing. The Armstrong case caught my attention though. Because here was a man who had cheated his way to the top, and yet clearly had zero conscience about what he had done. Now that takes a really sick type of person. Sure, he eventually came out and admitted all, but you could tell he was only saying these things because he was backed into a corner. The quote at the end of this film from 2015 stating that he still believes he won those titles, sums him up to me. Pure scum.
The movie itself was entertaining enough. It chose to take a very dry and almost reenactment-style approach. It's not like your typical film where relationships are formed over a period of time and conflicts are dealt with as they arise. Instead, 'The Program' just gives us the facts of the story, and that's that. I didn't actually mind the style though. I would've been angry if the film was an extra 20 minutes long because they needed to show how he came to fall in love with his wife. It certainly wouldn't work for every type of film, but for this it did the trick quite nicely.
I had trouble buying into Ben Foster as Armstrong. They have a very similar face, but Foster just doesn't come across as an athlete to me. His acting itself was impressive enough, considering this wasn't really a film that's ever going to give an actor a lot of scenes to show off what he has. 'The Program' is a film that will entertain and inform anyone who has an interest in the Lance Armstrong story, that's for sure. However, for anyone who couldn't care less, I'd advise staying away.
The movie itself was entertaining enough. It chose to take a very dry and almost reenactment-style approach. It's not like your typical film where relationships are formed over a period of time and conflicts are dealt with as they arise. Instead, 'The Program' just gives us the facts of the story, and that's that. I didn't actually mind the style though. I would've been angry if the film was an extra 20 minutes long because they needed to show how he came to fall in love with his wife. It certainly wouldn't work for every type of film, but for this it did the trick quite nicely.
I had trouble buying into Ben Foster as Armstrong. They have a very similar face, but Foster just doesn't come across as an athlete to me. His acting itself was impressive enough, considering this wasn't really a film that's ever going to give an actor a lot of scenes to show off what he has. 'The Program' is a film that will entertain and inform anyone who has an interest in the Lance Armstrong story, that's for sure. However, for anyone who couldn't care less, I'd advise staying away.