Genre: Sports / Drama
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Writer: Matt Parker
Cast : William Fichtner, Josh Duhamel, Trevor Jackson, Eric Roberts, John David Washington, Saffron Burrows, Kat Graham, Marley Shelton, B.D. Wong
Plot: It's the first game of the new football season. It's a showdown between two American Football Association (AFA) bottom dwellers, the Memphis Pharaohs and the Las Vegas Outlaws in the aging and outdated Memphis Municipal Stadium. Memphis Pharaohs owner Leonard Palmer (Eric Roberts) sits in the owners box attempting to wine and dine newly-elected Memphis Mayor Sharon Matthews (Saffron Burrows). The stadium is half-empty and the Pharaohs are down 30-12 on the scoreboard. Palmer is trying to convince Mayor Matthews that the team cannot survive after this season in Memphis without a new stadium as the current stadium is a fan deterrent. Mayor Matthews isn't buying Palmer's sales pitch. Palmer then threatens to relocate the team away from the city if he can't get her support for a new stadium. Her attention turns back to the gridiron as Memphis' veteran quarterback, Tim Collins (Josh Duhamel), is sacked in his own end zone for a safety, making the score 32-12 in favor of the Outlaws. Mayor Matthews comments that she thought Collins retired years ago. Head Coach of the Pharaohs, Ken Heath (William Fichtner), goes ballistic on his offensive linemen when they return to the sideline.
Not seeing much in the way of playing time, backup rookie running back Jefferson Thomas (Trevor Jackson) turns his attention away from the game and toward flirting with the team's head cheerleader, Nikki (Kat Graham). She reminds him that the league has a rule against players and cheerleaders dating. Back on the field, the star running back for the Pharaohs, Lincoln Tatum (John David Washington), takes a hand off from Collins and begins taking it up the field. He gets through the first wave of the defense and can see the end zone, when suddenly he takes an ugly shot to the knee by an Outlaws defender. Tatum lays on the field, screaming in agony. The team medical staff rushes out onto the field. Tatum is unable to move the knee, so they get him onto the medical cart and take him into the locker room.
Coach Heath starts yelling for the backup Thomas, but he isn't on the bench. He sends one of his assistants to find Thomas, who is finally found over near the cheerleaders, far away from the team bench. Thomas is told he is heading into the game. Thomas suddenly turns into a ball of nerves. Coach Heath tells Thomas the play and has him relay it to the rest of the offense already on the field. By the time Thomas gets to the huddle, he has already forgotten the play, forcing Collins to call one at the line of scrimmage. The first play of Thomas' pro career is supposed to be a screen pass to the running back, but even after the play was explained by Collins in the huddle, Thomas looks the wrong way for the ball resulting in an Outlaws interception that they take all the way back for a touchdown. After the extra point, the Las Vegas Outlaws lead 39-12 with just a few minutes left on the clock.
With the game out of reach, Mayor Matthews decides to excuse herself from the game to head home early and beat the traffic. Palmer asks her to please consider what he's said. Mayor Matthews says that maybe she'll start to consider his proposal if the team can win some games. The city council will always vote more favorably toward a winner she says as she leaves the owner's box.
After a solid kick return, the Pharaohs come back onto the field with good field position. Collins completes a series of short slant passes that gets them into scoring position with a minute to go. Coach Heath calls a timeout to talk things over with his offense. He demands that they score a touchdown on this possession to avoid embarrassment in their home stadium in the first game of the season. Coach Heath tells Collins to make sure to get the ball into Thomas' hands. They used a 1st round pick to draft him after all. On the next play, Collins hands the ball off to Thomas on a counter. Thomas gets behind a solid block by the tight end and takes the ball up-field and breezes past the defense with his blistering speed, into the end zone for a 30-yard touch down run on his first official touch. Thomas celebrates in the end zone and then runs the ball down to Nikki who cheers on the sidelines. Coach Heath is relieved that Thomas shows promise on the field since if he has one more 1st round draft pick end up a bust he'll surely be out of a job by the end of the season.
The game still ends in a loss for the Memphis Pharaohs, 39-19. The team heads into the locker room. Tatum is in the medical room getting x-rays of his knee taken. The team doctor, Dr. Clifford Chen (B.D. Wong), is worried about the results as it looks like Tatum could have significant damage to his knee, possibly career ending. Dr. Chen doesn't tell Tatum or Coach Heath any of this however, telling them that the results are not conclusive and that he wants to run more tests at his office in the morning once the swelling has gone down a bit. Coach Heath addresses his team in the locker room. He tells them that the losses hurt a little more at home, but that they don't have any time to dwell on it as they have a game in Atlanta in a week and a lot of work to do to be ready for them.
As Collins changes into his street clothes after hitting the showers, his cell phone rings. On the other end is his ex-wife Sarah (Marley Shelton). She screams at him for being late on his alimony payment. He tells her that he'll get her the money once he has some, and that his portfolio recently took a beating. She doesn't want to hear any of his excuses, yelling that if she doesn't find a check in the mail within a week he'll have to deal with her lawyer.
Thomas hits the clubs after the game, clearly not upset following the loss. As he parties in the VIP section, he spots Nikki across the club and invites her to drink some top shelf champagne with him. They do some dancing and some light making out before she finally stops his advances, telling him that she can't date him because it's against the rules. Thomas asks her who said anything about dating. The two then head into the bathroom where they have sex.
Coach Heath sits in darkness in his office, the only light coming from a big screen as he is already going over the game film from that night's loss. Leonard Palmer enters the office, interrupting Coach Heath's film breakdown. Coach Heath asks him what he wants. Palmer tells his coach that the team needs to make the playoffs that season, no matter what. If they fail to reach the playoffs, not only will he seek to move the team away from Tennessee, but Coach Heath will be on the unemployment line.
"A rare leading role for William Fichtner, who shines in his role while surrounded by a good ensemble cast. The pilot introduces the characters well and I find myself rooting for the Pharaohs even if nothing's going their way.
From what I've seen, I'm a little bit worried about the future of Gauntlet. Sure it's well-acted and the pace is good, thanks to strong work by Matt Parker (a writer we don't hear about very often at LRF), but it seems to be going in the cliche-ridden storyline of the bad team overcoming the odds. Only time will tell if I'm write.
Well acted, well shot and well written, the first episode of Gauntlet does everything you expect a pilot to do, but nothing more either.
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