"Movies featuring Native American heroes apparently are required to have their main characters hook up with their animal spirits and/or reconnect with their heritage before they can actually accomplish heroic actions.

Even Val Kilmer's mixed-race FBI agent in 1992's “Thunderheart” had his white self pushed aside by his Native-American self so he could tap into the spirit world and therefore be able to solve mysterious reservation killings.

So it is with Steve Rash's unassuming “Crooked Arrows,” a standard-issue sports underdog drama complete with a full range of sports movie clichés, lots of bungled, overdone slow-motion shots, a too-familiar outcome, plus a conflicted hero who must get down with his animal spirit self if he is to succeed as a coach and bring honor to his tribe.

Because “Crooked Arrows” is framed as a uniquely American Indian experience, it stands a little taller than most generic sports underdog films."

Get the Story:
'Arrows' gives sports drama Native American bent (The Daily Herald 5/31)

Related Stories:
Doug George-Kanentiio: 'Crooked Arrows' scores on the screen (05/16)