FILM: Hard Miles (2023, R.J. Daniel Hanna)

Pete Kirkpatrick ,

Sports drama Hard Miles is distributed by Blue Fox Entertainment, following its premiere at the 2023 Bentonville Film Festival. Cycling enthusiast Greg Townsend (Matthew Modine) is the sports coach and welding workshop manager at a correctional facility. He teaches four of the older boys (Jahking Guillory, Jackson Kelly, Damien Diaz, Zach Robbins) how to make a bike and then, along with facility psychologist Haddie (Cynthia McWilliams), they embark on a 762-mile-long cycle to the Grand Canyon. For the four boys, the journey proves one of self-discovery, but circumstances in his personal life lead to Greg realising during the journey that he must confront difficulties from his past.

PROS

  • Director R.J. Daniel Hanna and his co-writer Christian Sander craft a passionate celebration of the art of team cycling and the joys of exploring nature, whilst also ensuring that the entire narrative is character-driven as they give increasing amounts of depth and nuance to Greg and the boys.
  • An excellent cast led by a nuanced and passionate Matthew Modine. The standouts, however, are the actors playing the boys, who display tremendous versatility by bringing to screen real intensity, heartfelt passion and raw vulnerability alike, as dictated by the narrative, and also have real camaraderie with each other.
  • Excellent cinematography by Mack Fisher, who uses close-ups effectively to capture the small details of a bicycle’s mechanics in action and cycling’s strains upon human muscles; as well as gorgeous landscape shots of rural America, in particular the wonderful scale of the Grand Canyon.

CONS

  • At times the narrative is quite predictable due to the screenwriters relying upon the usual formula and tropes of sports dramas.
  • The explorations of the boys’ traumatic pasts are somewhat surface-level, and it feels like R.J. Daniel Hanna played it safe to ensure a PG-13 (US)/12 (UK) rating.
  • Some very one-note supporting characters, whose lack of substance result in a couple of important scenes lacking the full emotional weight that they could have had.

VERDICT: 7/10

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