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'Murderball': Warriors on wheels

Murderball's rugby players are like many guys who play the smashmouth sport — tough, intimidating competitors who trash-talk, drink hard and chase women.

The difference is that they're quadriplegics, with partial impairment of all four limbs. They battle one another like gladiators in heavily armored wheelchairs.

ThinkFilm 'Murderball' A The verdict: Intense, funny and inspiring. Directors: Henry Alex Rubin, Dana Adam Shapiro Cast: Keith Cavill, Joe Soares, Mark Zupan Run time: 88 minutes Release date: July 22, 2005 Rating: R for language and sexual content. On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate "Murderball"   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Murderball is a brilliant documentary that follows the U.S. Paralympic Rugby Team over a two-year period, culminating in the Olympic arena in Athens, Greece. It takes viewers into an exhilarating, little-seen world that's a far cry from the depiction of similar disability in Million Dollar Baby.

The winner of the Audience Award and Special Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, Murderball isn't really a sports movie, nor is it a sentimental triumph-over-adversity tale.

The powerful, entertaining film focuses on the quadriplegic rugby players' rivalries and relationships, looking beyond their disabilities to portray them as athletes who find meaning through their sport.

Joe Soares, a childhood polio victim, is an embittered former Team USA star who was cut from the squad and then became Team Canada's coach, leading some players to dub him "Benedict Arnold."

Soares also has a difficult relationship with his able-bodied son, who shows no interest in sports.

Mark Zupan is Team USA's dominant player. He has tattoos, a goatee and a cute, devoted girlfriend.

Zupan is estranged from his childhood friend, Christopher Igoe, who was driving drunk the night Zupan was thrown from the bed of his pickup truck on a sharp curve, leaving Zupan paralyzed and Igoe wracked with guilt.

The film also follows the recovery of Keith Cavill, a young thrill-seeker injured in a motorcycle accident who must now come to grips with life in a wheelchair. "The fact is, what was once normal will never be the same," Cavill says.

Filmmakers Dana Adam Shapiro, a journalist who wrote about Quad Rugby for Maxim magazine, and Henry-Alex Rubin, who made the award-winning documentary Who is Henry Jaglom?, combine their respective talents to tell these stories with compassion and humor.

Murderball is intense, funny and inspiring — as well as a fierce, potential Oscar contender.