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Keith Cavill, Joe Soares, Mark Zupan, Andy Cohn, Bob Lujano ... see more see more... , Scott Hogsett

Better known as Wheelchair Rugby, Murderball is a game created by quadriplegic athletes that is every bit as aggressive as the name would lead one to expect; played with bone-breaking intensity, a typ... read more read more...ical game of Wheelchair Rugby involves plenty of trash-talking, a few head-on collisions, and the occasional player being thrown from his modified wheelchair. The game has become an official event at the Paralympics, a worldwide competition for handicapped athletes, and the United States and Canada have become fierce rivals in the event. When Joe Soares was dropped from the top-seated American team, he angrily retaliated by signing on as coach for the Canadian team, which he led to an upset victory for Team Canada in the games. In 2004, filmmaker Henry Alex Rubin and journalist Dana Adam Shapiro followed both teams as they traveled to Athens, Greece, for the 2004 Paralympics, documenting the fierce competition between the two teams (especially the Americans, bitterly stung by what they saw as Soares' betrayal). Murderball offers an up-close look at the 2004 Wheelchair Rugby tournament, as well as the personal stories of the athletes who are passionate, driven, and determined to win -- as one of them says, "I'm not here for a hug, I'm here for a medal." Murderball earned an enthusiastic reception in its premier screenings at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

87% liked it

10,511 ratings

Critics

98% liked it

137 critics

R, 1 hr. 25 min.

Directed by: Henry-Alex Rubin, Dana Adam Shapiro, Henry Alex Rubin

Release Date: July 22, 2005

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DVD Release Date: November 29, 2005

Stats: 947 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (947)

  • brooklynspo
    May 11, 2007
    brooklynspo
    Murderball is a good sports documentary and a great look at living with a disability. On the surface, this film unabashedly celebrates defiant machismo and the competitive spirit but underneath I sensed a more speculative investigation of human motivation, in many different are... read morenas.

    Murderball is very well structured and edited - a minor complaint - the filming of the wheelchair rugby game sequences left me confused about this relatively unknown sport. That's a minor quibble because most of this inspirational film takes place off the court.

    "I use everything I have to get through life, We all have to use everything we have."
  • jennifxu
    April 21, 2012
    jennifxu
    I am a sucker for films like these. It's almost impossible that I was not going to like "Murderball." Anything that involves sports and rage and physical disability and empowerment (empowerment in the awesome, beat-yo-ass way, not empowerment in the "encouraging dialogue" kind of... read more way) is A-OK with me. Mark Zupan is an excellent choice of a hero, all outspoken and solid yet full of rage.
  • cosmo313
    May 12, 2011
    cosmo313
    This is a very interesting and memorable documentary blending sports, humanity, and living with being handicapped. These guys may be in wheelchairs, but they take they are badass, and take their brand of rugby, or rather, wheelchair rugby, very seriously. In fact, the film's titl... read moree comes from the sport's nickname- that's how hardcore these guys are.

    They're not totally jerk jocks, though. These guys are also family men who just try to continue living life as normally as possible given the circumstances, and this film is just a nice little look into their lives as well as their sport.

    Good stuff all around. I highly recommend it.
  • StarCrossedVoyager
    October 15, 2009
    StarCrossedVoyager
    I really enjoyed this film as it allowed me to learn more about quadriplegics and their situation and how they feel about the constant prejudice and discrimination. It was funny, informative and entertaining. An inspirational film.
  • SirPant
    October 1, 2009
    SirPant
    A fantastic insight into the history, storeys and interesting characters of my new favourite sport! Highly recommended!
  • DrZeek
    September 27, 2006
    DrZeek
    Fuck the penguins, this was the best documentary of 05.
  • mrbungle7821
    May 17, 2006
    mrbungle7821
    [center][font=Arial][color=darkred][img]http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/6179/photo061de.jpg[/img][/color][/font][/center]

    [font=Arial][color=darkred]A fascinating look into the world of international wheelchair rugby, a high-octane game of bumper cars. This is a mere 80-minut... read moree movie and yet the wallop it packs can be felt long after. In such a short amount of time you get to understand the people, you really get involved in their drama and social situations, their competitive nature. [i]Murderball[/i] explores so much of a little-seen world; I love the segment where they frankly talk about sex after their accidents. The help video that advises what sexual positions may be best for people in wheelchairs is hilarious. I never thought about it but there has to be quad groupies out there licking their lips. Mark Zupan comes across as nothing short of a superhero, and he?s just being himself. The film is surprisingly moving and poignant, with many uplifting scenes without ever getting sentimental. This movie earns every emotion, unlike my thoughts on [i]Elizabethtown[/i]. The people featured don?t want to get sentimental, they don?t want your pity; they just want to be treated the same how they were before their accidents. The wheelchair rugby bouts are exciting, with lots of interesting camerawork and useful animation. I loved immersing myself in this unusual sport, learning the point system depending upon the ability of movement with each person. This is an expertly crafted documentary with tight, rock-solid editing (it won an award for it at Sundance). You get this wealth of emotions and stories in at 80 minutes with enough time to close on an extended montage at the 2004 Paralympic games in Athens. It?s incredible seeing them turn their wheelchairs into these chariots of destruction. You get a great sense of the people and their world. This is the best documentary since the exceptional 2002 doc [i]Spellbound[/i], and [i]Murderball[/i] is nothing short of the BEST film of 2005.[/color][/font]

    [font=Times New Roman][font=Arial][size=2][color=darkred]Nate?s Grade: A[/color][/size][/font][/font]
  • gator681
    August 14, 2005
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic]"Murderball" is a documentary about wheelchair rugby which begins at the 2002 World Championships in Sweden and leads up to the 2004 Paralympics which are held in Athens, following the Olympics. Wheelchair rugby is a rough and tumble sport or as one player c... read morealls it - "kill the guy with the ball." (Thus illustrating perfectly that the handicapped are not all as delicate as we would think and that they have to work out their agressiveness, too.) The movie focuses on the American team(especially Mark Zupan, who is rather charismatic) training for the Paralympics. At the same time, Joe Soares is coaching and training Team Canada. He used to be a great player with Team America but was turned down for a spot one year and went to coach Team Canada.(Soares reminds me of a bit of Robert Duvall in "The Great Santini.") It does resemble the storylines of any number of sports movies from Hollywood except I think they would have used Russia, China or Iran instead of Canada. [/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]"Murderball" educated me quite a deal on the nature of being of quadriplegic; in that it is much more complex than I thought at first. It is not just a matter of being paralyzed; there are degrees of paralysis, too. The section on sex was most illuminating. Basically, I thought this documentary was very entertaining and touching but not in a maudlin "disease of the week" way. But it is still not as good as the great documentary "When Billy Broke His Head...And Other Tales of Wonder." [/font]
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  • michaelneumann
    July 30, 2005
    michaelneumann
    It feels like so many people are just drifters from revelation to revelation. We fulfill all the minimum requirements for surviving, and yet this malaise is killing us, little by little. I see so many simply plugged in to fill the space like props. Nobody knows how to invest them... read moreselves. The slow suicide, the attrition of passion. All this familiarity offers angles, but we don't know how to rotate what it is we're looking at. Even the silence menace of summer shares the blame.

    But, sometimes, we rediscover perspective. Like a smoker getting their trusty old lighter to finally ignite. And when we do that, we shave a layer from our lens of ignorance, and bowels of our factory creak just a little. A conveyor belt trudges. A robotic arm lurches. A lightbulb flickers. It just hits us, through some complicated snowballing of thought, and you don't know how to retrace the path. When it seems like so many are losing the battle of energy, some unforeseen stratagem is revealed and we see hope again. The dawning of a new light.

    But, I don't like to wait that long for perspective. Often, I can't wait that long.

    I need to surge. I need to gush. I need to raise a spoon to the night and whirl the stars into a worm hole. Because sometimes poetry isn't poetic enough, and wisdom just isn't wise enough. And when I explore deeper into this maze of mortality, I want to find the owl that will lead me where my grand quest really begins.

    So, I have a plan. I know how to fight the cannibalization of my inspiration. It's these trappings that squeeze all my tiny pulps dry, and I grow fuzzy and green with mental fallout...but I will try and ruin them. I must be like Wile E. Coyote and tie a rope between each side of the canyon to pull them together. What I need is the rawness of survival to be my guide, to stay in motion. I must live in alertness, live with wings, pray for more easterly winds. And perhaps, when I stir the stew of creation, I can eventually pour something truly worthwhile from it.

    Thankfully, we all have magic vines to the sky that we can tug when we need help. The results may not appear immediate, but it's always there if you want to try it.

    Ah, bleargh.


    Though I may not possess so much of it at times, the human spirit can be beautifully indefatigable (I've been wanting to use that word). People can live with the ardor of ten humans, and yet they may be physically incomplete. The movie [b]Murderball[/b] features quadriplegics living just as fully abled people would, despite their dysfunctional, or missing, limbs. (Well, aside from them playing hardcore wheelchair rugby). The movie is satisfyingly galvanic and runs a gamut on so many emotions and perspectives. It is a glittering testament to reality being so much more fantastic than most fiction we can conceive. Seriously, it's good.
  • zeravenyoej
    June 12, 2007
    zeravenyoej
    A documentary about quadriplegic rugby players. It's hard to imagine anyone not liking this.

View All Murderball Reviews

Critic Reviews

Richard Corliss
August 4, 2008
Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine

Murderball is no Rocky-esque hymn to the human spirit. It's more like a prison movie... Full Review

J. R. Jones
March 26, 2007
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

An honest, down-to-earth account of how life goes on for people with disabilities. Full Review

Roger Moore
August 26, 2005
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

This offbeat documentary is inspiring and jaw-droppingly original. Full Review

Tom Long
July 29, 2005
Tom Long, Detroit News

The frank lack of condescension and mean moments of Murderball make it more than a film about sports or quadriplegics: It becomes a movie about life, about struggle, about pain, bitterness and pushing...

Michael Booth
July 29, 2005
Michael Booth, Denver Post

Wheels us through an emotional obstacle course so rigorous and satisfying you'll be gulping for air by the end. Full Review

Terry Lawson
July 29, 2005
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press

None of this is treated as anything but what it is: trying to get the most out of life by --- to paraphrase the famous Warren Zevon hockey tribute -- getting the ball, keeping it and trying to hurt so... Full Review

Robert Denerstein
July 29, 2005
Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News

I don't know whether directors Henry Alex Rubin and Dan Adam Shapiro set out to show the jock mentality with such clarity, but that's precisely what their gripping movie does.

Jeff Strickler
July 28, 2005
Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune

While the game itself is enough to hold viewers' interest, the filmmakers go much further. They delve into the psyche of the players. Full Review

Bob Longino
July 26, 2005
Bob Longino, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Their game is ugly, raucously verbal, overtly physical and, as displayed in Murderball's rapid-pace editing, a heck of a lot of fun to watch. Full Review

James Berardinelli
July 23, 2005
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

The emotional resonance that results from the focus on several unique individuals is what makes this a worthwhile viewing experience. Full Review

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