Movie Review: Native sports drama ‘Rez Ball’ follows formula but wins out with heart and poignancy

A scrappy young team of underdogs — in both sports and life — must find a way to unite and win that big championship. Can they do it? How many times have we seen that story, and who among us couldn’t write the ending right now?

That may be just what you’re thinking as you settle into “Rez Ball,” the latest entry in the canon of inspirational youth sports movies, and the sub-canon of inspirational youth basketball movies. And yes, there’s a lot you can predict from the outset, not to mention lines you could have pre-written, word for word.

But that doesn’t mean your heart won’t be caught up in this deeply felt, poignantly told story from Navajo country, especially when the last player takes that last shot in those final seconds — never mind some heavy-handed moments. And it bears mentioning that the basketball pedigree is unimpeachable here, with none other than LeBron James producing.

So many movies begin promisingly and fail to stick the landing. “Rez Ball,” directed by Navajo filmmaker Sydney Freeland (the title is shorthand for "reservation ball”) is quite the opposite, a movie whose ending lifts the rest of the film up with it.

Indeed, there’s a palpable sense of fresh energy — visual, and emotional — the minute our underdog team, the Warriors from the fictional town of Chuska, New Mexico, arrives at the state championships in Albuquerque. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Freeland and co-writer Sterlin Harjo, their script inspired by Michael Powell’s book “Canyon Dreams,” begin with a flashback. Young boys Nataanii and Jimmy are playing basketball in happier times. We move to their high school years. They're both skilled players — especially Nataanii, whose height, grace and speed have made him a local hero.

But life has taken a dark turn. Nataanii (Kusem Goodwind) sat out the previous season because of the deaths of his mother and sister at the hands of a drunken driver, a tragic but not uncommon occurrence in the community. But despite falling into depression, Nataanii has returned for the new season.

The team’s coach, Heather (Jessica Matten), is a former WNBA player who grew up locally and has her own complicated history, as does Jimmy’s mother, Gloria, a former high school star who fell on hard times.

Trouble rears its head in only the second game, against Santa Fe Catholic, a cocky team that crushes the Warriors. Much worse is the fact that Nataanii hasn’t shown up and nobody’s heard from him. After the game, the team is delivered devastating news that threatens their ability to continue.

And it puts the pressure squarely on Jimmy, now the captain. Gradually, they coalesce into a workable unit. In an early team-building exercise, coach Heather tasks the boys with herding some escaped sheep on her grandmother’s land. She also engages an assistant coach who puts an emphasis on Navajo spiritual traditions. Under Jimmy, the team also embraces the clever idea of calling their plays in Navajo, to thwart their rivals.

Things go well but then fall apart, on court and off, at a critical moment in the season. And though the team makes it to state playoffs at the famous “Pit” — the 15,000-seat university arena in Albuquerque — there’s a real question as to “which” Chuska Warriors will show up.

It’s a moment of truth for Jimmy — played by the appealing Kauchani Bratt (nephew of Benjamin) — who must not only rally his team, but triumph over the pessimism his bitter mother imparts to him, especially about basketball. Gloria (Julia Jones) tells him she doesn’t come to his games because she doesn’t want to see him fail. Another gem from Mom: “The higher you go, the greater the fall.”

Such lines would land with more authenticity if Gloria had been given a deeper backstory. The off-court life of Heather, too, is given cursory treatment. Two appealing girlfriend characters also get short shrift. The filmmakers clearly have one focus, which is to impart drama through basketball. And the game scenes are the best ones, with director Freeland, cinematographer Kira Kelly and a cast of newcomers — not to mention a basketball choreographer — joining to produce some exciting on-court moments.

Luckily, Bratt inhabits Jimmy with charm and ease. (A Native performer with varsity basketball experience, he and other actors had to prove their ball skills before being cast.) And so it comes down to Jimmy, at the end, with his hand on the ball at that crucial moment.

We won’t tell you what happens. And even if you’re sure you know, is that really the point?

“Rez Ball,” a Netflix release, has been rated rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association “for thematic elements including suicide, teen drug/alcohol use, language and some crude references.” Running time: 111 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

This image released by Netflix shows a scene from the film "Rez Ball." (Netflix via AP)

This image released by Netflix shows a scene from the film "Rez Ball." (Lewis Jacobs/Netflix via AP)

This image released by Netflix shows, from left, Ernest David Tsosie as Benny, Jaren K Robledo as Levi, Devin Sampson-Craig as Bryson and Damian Castellane as Ruckus, in a scene from the film "Rez Ball." (Lewis Jacobs/Netflix via AP)

This image released by Netflix shows a scene from the film "Rez Ball." (Lewis Jacobs/Netflix via AP)

This image released by Netflix shows Kauchani Bratt as Jimmy, left, and Devin Sampson-Craig as Bryson, in a scene from the film "Rez Ball." (Lewis Jacobs/Netflix via AP)

This image released by Netflix shows Kusem Goodwind as Nataanii, left, and Kauchani Bratt as Jimmy, in a scene from the film "Rez Ball." (Lewis Jacobs/Netflix via AP)

This image released by Netflix shows Kauchani Bratt as Jimmy, left, and Sam Griesel as Mason, in a scene from the film "Rez Ball." (Lewis Jacobs/Netflix via AP)

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A crack in a damaged chemical tank in Southern California has eliminated the risk of a catastrophic explosion but it's still not safe enough for the remaining 16,000 residents living closest to the aerospace plant to go home, officials said Tuesday.

Crews were spraying water to keep cooling the tank that overheated last week, prompting the evacuation of 50,000 people in the Orange County city of Garden Grove. Most returned home after a crack formed over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, relieving pressure inside.

The evacuation zone remained the same on Tuesday morning, said Orange County Fire Capt. Brian Yau.

Crews worked overnight to ensure two other nearby tanks were neutralized and would not be affected by the compromised tank, he said, adding that material from one of these two tanks was transferred to another that has a neutralizing agent.

“They are moving material over to ensure that all threats have been eliminated,” Yau said.

Those threats include the risk of a very small explosion and potential spill, officials said.

Exposure to methyl methacrylate — a highly flammable chemical used to make plastics — can cause serious respiratory problems, neurological problems and irritation to the skin, eyes and throat, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The tank at the GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems plant contains 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 to 26,500 liters) of the chemical.

The interior cooled to 93 degrees F (33.9 degrees C), the county's fire division chief Craig Covey said Monday, down from 100 degrees (37.7 degrees C) a day earlier. The company said its technical specialists and the county fire authority have removed insulation from the tank to help cool it.

Health officials sought to reassure people who are returning to homes near the plant.

“There was no contamination. There were no fumes,” Orange County Health Director Regina Chinsio-Kwong said at Monday's news conference. “There was not a leak. So it should be, you should feel comfortable going home even if you’re across the street from that new zone line.”

The South Coast Air Quality Management District will monitor the air for several months and the EPA will be checking sewer and storm drains for spills, Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen said.

Garden Grove Unified School District said last week it was shutting a dozen schools through what was supposed to be the last day of the school year on Wednesday but later said only three would remain closed Tuesday. It was unclear if they would reopen before the school year ends this week.

At a parking lot at a large park in Fountain Valley, just southwest of Garden Grove, people sought refuge in an ad hoc shelter there or pitched tents outside. Other people gathered in the park to enjoy Memorial Day.

Kim Yen, a retiree who was still evacuated from her home two blocks from the plant, welcomed news that the worst was not expected.

“I am happy and many of us are happy,” she said Monday.

She said she's ready to go back but wants to be sure it’s safe first. She's also been worrying about the emergency workers, who she called “our heroes.”

As the tank heated up, the chemical converted from liquid to gas, ramping up the pressure and explosion risk, said Andrew Whelton, a Purdue University engineering professor who has studied environmental contamination. Some of the methyl methacrylate may already have hardened into a stable plastic similar to plexiglass, reducing the danger, he said.

The tank could eventually cool enough for crews to safely stabilize and drain the remaining material without triggering a spark or ignition, Whelton said.

However, he said there is still a risk of an explosion while the chemical remains hot and reactive. Temperatures need to fall closer to 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (15.6 to 21.1 degrees C) before conditions are considered significantly safer, he said.

GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems makes cockpit windows, canopies and windshields for military and commercial aircraft. It employs about 16,000 people across 32 manufacturing sites in 12 countries, according to the company website.

“We apologize for the ongoing disruption this incident is causing and our priority remains its safe resolution, so that residents can return to their homes as quickly as possible,” the company said.

GKN Aerospace agreed in 2025 to pay state regulators more than $900,000 to settle violations involving recordkeeping, permitting issues and nitrogen oxide emissions, according to a report on the South Coast Air Quality Management District website.

——

This story has been corrected to attribute a quote to TJ McGovern, interim fire chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, not to division chief Craig Covey.

Willingham reported from Boston. Contributing were Associated Press journalists Jamie Stengle in Dallas; Ethan Swope in Garden Grove, California; and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles.

Two evacuees sit in their pickup truck at a gas station within the evacuation zone in Stanton, Calif., Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

An aerial view shows a police checkpoint enforcing a road closure at the evacuation zone boundary in Anaheim, Calif., Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Jan De Jonge and fiancé Sher Stuckman set up a tent with their belonging and pet outside the Elks Lodge in Garden Grove, Calif., on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

An evacuation map is displayed at the incident command post at the Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Water is sprayed on a damaged tank at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026, after the tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

People walk outside Freedom Hall, an evacuation center in Fountain Valley, Calif., on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

An American Red Cross volunteer walks outside Freedom Hall, an evacuation center in Fountain Valley, Calif.,on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

People tend to their pets outside Freedom Hall, an evacuation center in Fountain Valley, Calif., on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)