First of all, I have to say I quite enjoyed the first Goal! movie. However, while Goal! II improves upon the great football action portrayed in the movie, all elements of storytelling are lost.
In this installation, Santiago Munez gets his big break when Real Madrid are interested in signing him from Newcastle. His imminent decision to move to Spain causes problems which reflects the real life of a professional footballer, for example; Santiago plays in the same position as his friend, Gavin Harris, who has already settled in Real Madrid,and therefore his competitor is his own best buddy; the allures of coming with living in a posh celebrity lifestyle (there's probably about a hundred chicks included in the film, 90% of them quite hot); plus a few other points the movie brings out such as his family ties. In fact, the movie tries to focus more on the emotional and personal impacts so much they never really give any importance to winning football matches at all.
Moreover, despite the attempts at focusing on the changes to his personal life and the emotional impact he must endure, the movie never follows throughly with these subplots and we're left out in the cold. You never get to see the tension build between Gavin and Santiago and even feels like a non-issue sometimes, yet it's conveniently resolved at the end. In fact, everything gets so conveniently solved or left to forget it's often irritating. The only real issue the movie tries to explore is between Santi and his fiancée, and that is left to be resolved in Goal 3 when he goes to the World Cup with Mexico.
But despite these minuses, Goal II can probably be ranked amongst the best football films, not just because of a dire lack of them, but also because of its great football action and intelligent improvisation of real life situations. The swap-transfer of Santi is humorous, and the on-field action sequences are great. Yet the movie's strength can also lead to its downfall. While it contains a vast number of football stars, it gets irritating how none of them ever really talk, and how Beckham is somehow suddenly forced into the film as a major character without him ever needing to act or open his mouth. In fact, I got irritated at being forced to look at Beckham doing nothing so much I grew to dislike him more from this film alone than from anything else (personally, I admire his footballing skills and especially his professionalism).
Overall, it's one big high-end product-placing film with sub-par acting, bad character development, horrible screenplay, but great football action and beautiful camera work at times.
It could be a pretty good watch during the off-season, but if you're not a football fan, I highly recommend you to avoid it.
In this installation, Santiago Munez gets his big break when Real Madrid are interested in signing him from Newcastle. His imminent decision to move to Spain causes problems which reflects the real life of a professional footballer, for example; Santiago plays in the same position as his friend, Gavin Harris, who has already settled in Real Madrid,and therefore his competitor is his own best buddy; the allures of coming with living in a posh celebrity lifestyle (there's probably about a hundred chicks included in the film, 90% of them quite hot); plus a few other points the movie brings out such as his family ties. In fact, the movie tries to focus more on the emotional and personal impacts so much they never really give any importance to winning football matches at all.
Moreover, despite the attempts at focusing on the changes to his personal life and the emotional impact he must endure, the movie never follows throughly with these subplots and we're left out in the cold. You never get to see the tension build between Gavin and Santiago and even feels like a non-issue sometimes, yet it's conveniently resolved at the end. In fact, everything gets so conveniently solved or left to forget it's often irritating. The only real issue the movie tries to explore is between Santi and his fiancée, and that is left to be resolved in Goal 3 when he goes to the World Cup with Mexico.
But despite these minuses, Goal II can probably be ranked amongst the best football films, not just because of a dire lack of them, but also because of its great football action and intelligent improvisation of real life situations. The swap-transfer of Santi is humorous, and the on-field action sequences are great. Yet the movie's strength can also lead to its downfall. While it contains a vast number of football stars, it gets irritating how none of them ever really talk, and how Beckham is somehow suddenly forced into the film as a major character without him ever needing to act or open his mouth. In fact, I got irritated at being forced to look at Beckham doing nothing so much I grew to dislike him more from this film alone than from anything else (personally, I admire his footballing skills and especially his professionalism).
Overall, it's one big high-end product-placing film with sub-par acting, bad character development, horrible screenplay, but great football action and beautiful camera work at times.
It could be a pretty good watch during the off-season, but if you're not a football fan, I highly recommend you to avoid it.