Film review: ‘The Hammer’: Predictability in a headlock
The fact-based story of Matt “The Hammer” Hamill, a three-time NCAA wrestling champion and the first deaf wrestler to win a national championship, the film “The Hammer” looks to tread a fine line between appealing directly (and perhaps strictly) to the deaf community and opening up an understanding of the deaf experience to a broader audience.
Directed by Oren Kaplan, making his feature debut from a script by Eben Kostbar and Joseph McKelheer, the film follows Hamill from a small-town Ohio childhood in the late-’70s and early ‘80s to finding his winning ways in college in the ‘90s.
Perhaps knowing his film was going to be screened as open-captioned (essentially subtitled even though it’s in English), Kaplan isn’t formally adventuresome in conveying Hamill’s condition, mostly just relying on predictable audio drop-outs and rumbling crowd sounds. The film falls back on sports-film clichés, abruptly relying on the Big Match to goose the narrative.
It is the intense performance by Russell Harvard, who is deaf in real life, as Hamill that gives the film what little kick it has, while actress Shoshannah Stern (who is also deaf), as his love interest, likewise brings more spark to the role than what is written.
The film’s inspirational tug is undeniable — proved by a string of festival audience prizes, including L.A.’s own AFI Film Fest — but its storytelling feels disconcertingly unbalanced, both too straightforward and rather rushed.
“The Hammer” never quite brings the pain, in the parlance of pro wrestling, leaving the film feeling heartfelt but flat.
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