'The Express' is a welcome and refreshing take on the genre of sports biographies and/or civil rights struggles. The football takes precedence over the civil rights struggles, but it's only through the latter that Ernie Davis (played by Rob Brown) is really shown to grow and develop as a person, as well as a sportsman. For me, 'The Express' is an original take on a genre, or genres, that have been covered in abundance before - take 'Remember the Titans' as a recent example. The major difference being that in 'The Express' the characters remember to smile a little more often, and the excessive grunting and other shows of machismo that are almost pre-requisite in football films, are agreeably absent (by and large) from this production. That said, neither Dennis Quaid nor Rob Brown, whilst both putting in a commendable performances, had quite the screen presence to really take this film into the upper echelons of memorable films. I also felt that more could have been made of Ernie's contraction of, and coping with, leukaemia. The synopsis above says "Though leukaemia struck the player a terrible blow in the prime of his life, his spirit soared when most would crumble". Unfortunately, this soaring of his spirit was somewhat neglected and instead 'The Express' was wrapped up within ten minutes or so after Ernie's illness had been confirmed: a loss to the film I believe. Still, Ernie's ground-breaking achievements were covered well, and should prove to be an inspiration for anyone out there that is battling against injustice, or 'just' battling against the odds. The film is also a timely reminder of just how far the United States has come in the past five decades with respect to overcoming society-wide acceptance of racism and prejudice.