If you watch the trailer, it will be somewhat misleading, because the explosion of a ship does not really happen in the movie, among other things shown in the promo. But the bigger issue with this war academy movie is this: it has not enough soldier's life in it, while at the same time is has way too much sport in form of boxing, especially near the end. And also, like so many others pictures about men becoming soldiers (cops, firefighters, lifeguards etc.), it has a romance in it, panning to the female portion of the audience; which is a serious problem haunting not only the Hollywood film industry. Unfortunately in this case, Jordana Brewster is just not cut out from the same material as Demi "J.I. Jane" Moore and as such is not believable as an US Navy instructor. On the other hand, the rest of the cast probably could not be betterAlthough that extensive amount of boxing and preparation for the matches could also be viewed as a plus, because of them this "peacetime war" movie is not so typical as you could expect. And also the matches are presented not from A-to-Z way. For example from the second one only the finale is shown, with entertaining camera work; while in the third one there is this climax moment that is not the end of a fight, which is achieved by a slow motion technique in combination with extraordinary music of Brian Tyler. And that is another quality of this picture- the original score, with both nostalgic / love theme and energetic and not so classical-like action music. But on top of that, there is also very good music supervision, resulting in a a great usage of the song "Different Stars" by Trespassers William and "Born Too Slow" by The Crystal MethodAll in all, this is not a war epic nor a great movie, but simply a good execution of interesting story and characters, with the US Navy serving merely as a setup. And most definitely it is not that stupid and / or boring, as some negative user reviews from IMDb describe it

Jake Huard (James Franco) is an amateur boxer living with his gruff father. He's a shipbuilder at the naval shipyard. He gets late admission to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. His late mother supported him but his father does not. On the night before the Academy, his friends prank him pretending Ali (Jordana Brewster) to be a prostitute. It turns out she's one of his trainer. Matthew Cole (Tyrese Gibson) is his hard-nosed commander.This is a far inferior "An Officer and a Gentleman". Franco is too stiff. Tyrese Gibson doesn't have it. The story is oddly clichéd. It throws these clichés right at the audience's face. There is no real harm in these familiar tropes but it does get tiresome. This is utterly forgettable.

Even thou he was in several things before Annapolis, I consider this to be James Franco's breakthrough role. Just the training and studying alone, must have been as intense as the film itself. Franco plays Jake Huard, a first year student at the Naval academy. The story takes you inside one the hardest and most secretive schools in America, showing you just what it takes to even make it past your first year. The story itself is very inspirational and the acting is top notch. This isn't just a good film, it's one that you know took a lot out of everyone involved. I was entertained, excited, and inspired by an underdog who just wouldn't give up. This is a tremendous film that fell under the radar, because of a then, unknown cast, but it really is a must see for fans of inspirational, military and sports dramas.

Annapolis is a movie to watch for. After seeing this movie i felt to be in the defense field....This movie requires patience to watch the first half....i have not seen the trailer before watching this movie but i love this movie very much....Defense field is so disciplined and it nourishes the person attitude to become a soldier...James Franco ( Jake Huard ) has done a good job to his role and Jordana Brewster ( Ali ) is looking amazing. I guess girls looks amazing in the uniforms :)I wish too be in the defense...may be not in this life .... At last ...i will recommend everyone to watch this movie...Regards, Saurabh Goyal