The formulaic presentation and stereotypical structure to this motivational sports drama doesn't provide an appropriately engaging platform to tell Davis' story.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Nov 28, 2020

Administers a strong dose of well-earned outrage at what men of colour had to go through to get to places their white counterparts reached with ease.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 11, 2020

The always dependable Charles S. Dutton turns in another fine performance.

| Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Sep 7, 2020

It makes the most of its on-the-field drama, but it tends toward gross generalizations and oversentimentality. ... As a result, the film is burdened with hokiness.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 23, 2009

The movie also has its heart in the right place and it is as earnest as it can be. It simply falls short of being a great movie.

| Original Score: B | Jul 31, 2009

At times The Express couldn't decide whether it was telling a story of racial tensions, a general inspirational sports film or the tragic biography of Ernie Davis

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 5, 2009

While there's nothing remarkable about the way director Gary Fleder has brought The Express to the screen, this is a solid film that does justice to Davis' legacy.

Full Review | Original Score: 75/100 | Jan 3, 2009

While never as trailblazing as its subject, The Express is a worthy addition to the lengthy canon of sports biopics.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 5, 2008

The sports-movie template is capable of absorbing any story and delivering the same uplift.

| Original Score: 3/6 | Dec 5, 2008

A fine example of the form. Cliched and sentimental it might be, but in the case of The Express, these criticisms almost count as plus points.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 5, 2008

Full of stirring speeches and manly chins quivering with emotion, every frame is a cliché.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 5, 2008

Gary Fleder's sporting drama has its heart in the right place but, sheesh, that title grows more ironic with each crawling minute.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 5, 2008

A tidal wave of corn syrup hardly mars this old-style, populist entertainment.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 5, 2008

Fact-based or fictional, no genre sticks to the playbook more rigidly than the sports drama. Creditable addition to the canon though it is, The Express does not buck the trend.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 5, 2008

Steams ahead with express-train determination, scooping on to its cow-catcher any cinemagoer hoping he can outrun yet another true-life drama about black sportsmen overcoming bygone bigotry.

| Dec 5, 2008

The screenplay is stewed in such pieties, served up as warm and homely as apple pie - only there's no taste to it.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Dec 5, 2008

A game of three halves, this jogs well into at least 30 minutes of extra time, while the screenplay so oozes with earnestness you'll be wiping the inspiration off your face.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 5, 2008

Entertaining drama biopic that marshals its collection of sports biopic cliches to winning effect, aided by superb performances from Dennis Quaid and Rob Brown.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 5, 2008

No film that's 129 minutes long should be called The Express - how about The Sleeper To Oblivion?

| Original Score: 4/10 | Dec 4, 2008

There's nothing daring in the least about The Express, which, like most real-life sports stories co-opted by Hollywood, strips the achievements of any individuality or historical worth and renders them all part of the same gumbo of sticky cliches.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 26, 2008