Fortunately for Jake, he has a job building naval ships in Annapolis, so he has a “special” connection with the school. A scene with Jake glancing at a photo of himself and his mother implied that it was his mother’s dying wish for him to enter the hallowed military institute—or was it the stormy relationship that he had with his estranged father that pushed him into the arms of Uncle Sam? (Hmmm … An Officer and a Gentleman homage?)

After an intense boxing sequence—in which Jake shows how much heart a boxer can have—his dreams become realized, as he is given a golden ticket into the hallowed halls of Annapolis. Lt. Cmdr. Burton (Donnie Wahlberg) sees something special in Jake and gives him a chance to prove that a boy from the wrong side of the tracks can turn his life around.

Out celebrating with his pack of loser friends, Jake meets Ali (Jordana Brewster) and proceeds to try to impress the beautiful young lass by telling her that he is in the Academy. Before you can get your Top Gun reference ready, sure enough, Ali is a member of the Academy as well and—you guessed it—she is one of Jake’s superiors.

As Jake’s fellow classmates were introduced, I couldn’t get The Breakfast Club out of my head, as they all had some type of “malfunction.” Loo (Roger Lee) was the perfect one (think Molly Ringwald); Twins (Vicellous Reon Shannon) is the misfit (think Anthony Michael Hall); Estrada (Wilmer Calderon) is the misunderstood bad boy (think Judd Nelson); and Jake rounds out the bunch as the dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks muscular one (think Emilio Estevez). But somehow, someway, you know this group is going to pull together and beat the odds.

Throw in an overabundance of other ripped-off scenes, like Jake helping the physically challenged girl through the demanding obstacle course (Officer and a Gentleman); the “offbeat” training style of his boxing coaches (The Karate Kid); the overuse of the love/hate relationship between Jake and his superior, Cole (Tyrese Gibson) (Officer and a Gentleman); and the ultimate triumph-over-adversity boxing storyline (Rocky II–V) … You get the point: Director Justin Lin got himself stuck in some classic ’80s movies.

Despite the clichéd scenes and dialogue, the boxing sequences were impressive. The sped-up film style and proper use of shaky cam served to keep the audience appeased as they had to endure this rah-rah-shish-boom-bah, overly patriotic snoozefest.

Official Web site 

---