Rooney
AMAZONHard it may be to assess the legacy Wayne Rooney has for the sport of football, Rooney is surprisingly unconcerned about that. The Manchester United playing legend and current Derby F.C. manager and the head coach is more concerned with weathering the storm of his personal life than giving a wry smile to camera about his monumental footballing achievements. There are many. Premier League victories, European successes, personal international achievements and, above all, a seamless ability to cement himself as one of the great players of his generation. All of it is touched upon, but the intimate portrayal of Rooney and his family comes after sporadic controversy in his post-playing career.
Rooney will never give the true and earnest documentation of those recent years, but documentarian Matt Smith tries his best with a rather strange personal side to the Manchester United and Everton striker’s personal life. All of that is interlaced with Smith’s desire to get a little artistic on his audience. Choir music heralds in the opening of a rainy day, the slow motion of a punching bag and a hooded Rooney give the impression of an action flick, not a biographical piece on a footballer. It is silly, primarily because it bills Rooney as a champion among men when in reality he was a very good footballer. Any chance for the eponymous figure to talk of his talent is offered, but he does feel a bit reserved at times.
Most of that comes because of how open and honest Rooney is with his personal life. Splashed out on the tabloids rather frequently, Rooney is no stranger to detailing events and incidents some viewers may be well-versed in. That does not stop them from holding weight, as the Derby F.C. manager opens the door to his personal life in a feature that has the potential to be very revealing. He is honest about his regrets and loyalty, all of it intertwined with a playing career Smith never quite grapples with as best he should. With little structure to it all, Rooney documents marriage, failure, professional brilliance and retirement with a scattershot arrangement that follows a timeline understandable to nobody but Smith, and maybe Rooney.
This Amazon original will be a must-see for die-hard United fans, but little beyond that. Not even the Derby fans of the club Rooney caters to will get much interest in seeing the striker and his family live out some dull recollections of his glory days in agonisingly slow fashion. Like all documentaries that take a snapshot of life, Rooney must justify its existence by revealing something truly interesting or notable about the man at the core of it all. Naturally, Smith discovers nothing more than a legend of the game continuing to live his life in the revolving sphere of managerial struggles and personal foibles. These aren’t not of interest; they have just been documented already and never give the impression that Smith is anywhere close to treading new ground or documenting something absolute or exciting. A shame, really. It is a story of frustration told by others, and Rooney is oddly absent when it matters most. Is he the Michael Jordan of football? No. But Rooney would like you to think so.