Annapolis (Blu-ray)

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"Annapolis" is the kind of film that gives you a major sense of déjà vu. As you watch it, you can't help but think that the uniforms might be different, but you've seen it all before.

James Franco stars as Jake, a shipyard welder/riveter who gazes longingly across the river to where the Naval Academy haunts him like Gatsby's green light. He promised his dead mother that he'd go to the Academy, but Dad is less than supportive. A shipworker himself, he keeps reminding his son that he isn't suited to be anything different than the grunt he is, working on the ships that others will command. Substitute "coal miner" or "iron worker" for "shipbuilder" and any number of movies come to mind.

It gets better. Determined to get into the Academy despite mediocre grades and a lackluster resume, Jake plants himself on the doorstep of his Congressman and bugs the fellow until he finally gets Jake an appointment as a last-minute addition to this year's class of plebes. In a bar, Jake approaches a woman his friends goad him into thinking is a pro that they "got" him as a going away present. After a little come-on and a big misunderstanding, he turns up in camp the next day and learns she's one of his drill instructors. It's such a "Top Gun" moment that you can't help but think of Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis doing the same thing, but better. As Ali, Jordana Brewster seems younger than the average recruit, which makes their budding romance easier to swallow than her barking out (make that "yipping") commands this guy and others are supposed to follow.

In "Annapolis," though, the focus is more on boxing than romance. Jake mixed it up in the ring while he was a union worker, and now he's itching to get into the ring with a tough drill instructor who's taken an instant dislike to him. The D.I. hates this kid so much that nobody wants to room with him, because he's poison. If Jake doesn't know an answer, the entire outfit gets punished. Only one fellow decides to stay his roommate: an overweight African-American named Nance whom the D.I. calls Twins (Vicellous Shannon). It's the relationship between these two guys and Jake's ambition to take on Cole (Tyrese Gibson) in the Brigades that drives the narrative. Jake tries to help Twins lose weight, while Twins pulls out all his junk-food stash to try to help Jake gain enough weight to make it into Cole's heavyweight class. But it doesn't pay to be the hero's buddy, not in "Top Gun," and not in any of the schoolboy romps that you'll recall as you watch this. After a year of training, Twins still can't complete the obstacle course in under five minutes, and Coles' inflexible attitude makes Jake even more determined to beat him in the ring.