Borg vs. McEnroe

Although the casting choices for 1980s tennis titans Bjorn Borg (Sverrir Gudnason) and John McEnroe (Shia LeBeouf) aren’t optimal, Danish director Janus Metz’s bio-pic is surprisingly successful in conveying both the odd psychology of these two rivals and the raw physicality of their famously excruciating match at the 1980 Wimbledon finals. Metz certainly plays up the media perception of McEnroe as a hothead and Borg as a gentlemanly four-time Wimbledon champion, but the film pushes past the good guy vs. bad guy veneer to observe some interesting psychological truths about both. Borg could have easily become a braying hothead like McEnroe, but he learned to transform his rage and turn it inward, using Zen-like ritual to cope with the pressure of the spotlight. Conversely, the tantrum-throwing McEnroe, played with limited believability by LeBeouf (an actor who is controversial in his own right), was not as unhinged as he seemed: as Borg finds out, McEnroe’s fits are actually psychological weaponry used to achieve focus and power. Couple the smart insights with the compelling action choreography of the tennis matches and this is well worth watching. Recommended. (M. Sandlin).