Recently I went back to the cinema to see Race, the second film to recount the life of track and field star Jesse Owens and how he overcame adversity to win four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. It was a nice enough film, but lacked any knowledge we didn’t already have (the same problem I have with Titanic). Plus the story only started when he was 19 without giving any background on the hardship of his youth in Alabama. The spark that director Stephen Hopkins had when making the biopic The Life and Death of Peter Sellers started dimming with the bore of the horrific scare fest The Reaping, and although I admire his enthusiasm, he doesn’t offer anything new with Race.

Like other films before it (2004’s Crash, I’m looking at you), the cast is the film’s saving grace. Stephen James portrays Owens with such grace you feel as though you are actually seeing the Olympic star sprinting across the screen. Jason Sudeikis brilliantly stars as Larry Snyder, Ohio State University’s track and field coach, showing Owens that color isn’t a hindrance and his athletic abilities can catapult him into stardom.

One of the best moments comes out of the debate between Jeremiah Mahoney and Avery Brundage, portrayed by Academy Award winners William Hurt and Jeremy Irons respectively. Mahoney, president of the Amatuer Athletic Union, led newspaper editors and anti-Nazi groups to protest against American participation in the Berlin Olympics. Brundage, president of the International Olympic Committee, opposed the boycott, stating that Jewish athletes were being treated fairly and that the Games should continue. Brundage asserted that politics play no role in sports, and that they should never be woven together.

Of course, the greatest scenes put on screen are when Owens and company arrive at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, where the filmmakers were permitted to film. The rest of the film plays out like you heard in history class, with the notable performance by David Kross as Carl Long, the German athlete who risked his life giving Owens advice on his technique and eventually became one of his greatest friends.

Although the ending of the film is quite inspirational, the film as a whole is a bit run-of-the-mill. Viewers would be okay to try it once, but nothing in the film would make me want to go a second round.