Marching Band; it's been perceived since the dawn of time as a geeky hobby and pursuit, it's something people frown upon and laugh at whenever they spot someone wearing the outfit as they get into a band that would play a bad rendition of a movie theme. I can remember sitting in my junior high school auditorium watching the horrible band play their off-sync renditions of "Living in America" and the "Indiana Jones" theme with the musical skill and coordination of people with bad eye sight.

What this film, and writers Tina Gordon Chism and Shawn Schepps dare to do is break the stereotype once for all, and make marching bands look like something you'd be stupid not to do. There's a society and an entire institution that's exposed and revealed in "Drumline" that has rarely ever been seen by the outside world before, and all of it is nothing but sheer originality and energy. I'm a music lover, and my favorite part of a band is the drums, and watching these talented, disciplined, and entirely unappreciated people slam their sticks onto their drums with incredible precision invoked a fire within me that wanted to see more and more of this skill. It's incredible watching how they approach these people who are in professional marching bands and put them in training camps that tend to resemble boot camps. They run up the bleachers holding their heavy instruments, they sit out in the rain holding up their instrument while they vocally perform their musical section, and they train with their instruments viciously and relentlessly, but when they're performing it resembles ballet as every movement on the drum requires skill and technique; one fumble with the drumsticks, and everything is ruined.

They take this seriously, and we discover this isn't just a hokey profession, it's something that requires power, skill, and guts, and these people have it all, and it shocked me to discover something that I've always judged as ridiculous from the beginning. Not only is this film shockingly original and innovative, but it has a great cast to boot. I've never seen much of anything starring Nick Cannon whose been given a pretty big chance at "Nickelodeon" studios and became a star with the kids as a comedic improvisational character. I was rather skeptical as to whether he could handle a role this deep, in a movie so original, but I wasn't disappointed. Nick Cannon is more talented than he makes himself look and helped hook me into the film from beginning to end. Nick Cannon holds this movie on his shoulders and handles the job as main character with much tenacity. His character Devon has a skill which he flaunts, but not to the point where he becomes unlikable.

Comedian Orlando Jones (Evolution, The Replacements) has the most memorable role in the film as Dr. Lee a quiet but disciplined character who loves old music and uses it in the band, but is pressured to use modern music to keep his job. His subplot presented in the film is one of the most interesting of all and gives the film an added taste. Jones is a talented actor and handles this dramatic role with incredible dexterity often given very little dialogue in important scenes, but it increases his role to a great degree. Instead, he becomes a presence within the band often standing on the sidelines and pulling all the strings. The best demonstration of his character is when he puts the character Devon in line and humiliates him after he arrogantly beats the group leader in a drumming duel. I loved the subplot with the rivalry between Devon and Big Rob as they constantly bicker and compete throughout the film. Shay Roundtree is a truly good supporting character to that of Devon's and helps to increase the tension in the film. The beautiful Zoey Saldana whose previous film was in the awful "Crossroads" is an apt love interest and often outshines Cannon in love scenes.

What "Drumline" does is give the American audience a perspective into something entirely fresh and original to watch while focusing on a relatively obscure practice called band and succeeds in every way shape and form possible. Every character in the film takes this practice seriously and treats it as if it's life or death, and we can see why and begin to hope we're able to become involved in a situation like that someday. It's evident that there's no glamorizing or watering down of any kind in the film, what we're watching is in fact reality with the facade of Hollywood and it pulled me in right from the opener. It's a shame films of this aptitude don't make it into theaters as often as possible.

If you watch this movie for one reason at all, watch it simply for the incredible and energetic climax where the two rival bands duke it out musically on the football field in front of thousands, it's a scene that pumped me up as I put my stereo at full volume for the full effect. Director Charles Stone III whose previous film credits include "Paid in Full", and "True" directs this with much skill and length as if he studied and knew the material he was focusing on and took every effort possible to make it look like ballet. In the large band scenes he give incredible wide shots for the audience to watch for, and when there's a moment requiring it, he gives incredible close-up shots on the characters that help increase the event we're experiencing with much energy and excitement.

The film relies on a set of characters that have zero to no emphases which makes it increasingly difficult to relate to them. The character Jayson played by the dreadful GQ is your typical character of a white guy trying to be black as he did in the tepid "On the Line" and there's a little back story on him that feels tacked on, then there's Jason Weaver who plays Ernest who has no back story on him except a sub-plot regarding him and some sort of fraternity that gives the audience no explanation, no set up and feels tacked on when its finally resolved, and finally the focus on the main character, though deep with back story, is muddled by his personality. The main focus of the story, Devon, played with run of the mill length by Nick Cannon is one of the most obnoxious characters portrayed in the film. He's arrogant, egotistic and pompous and often flaunts it throughout the entire film.

In usual formulaic films such as this, there's usually a scene in the film that redeems the hero for the audience to have a change of heart with, but there is none. Even during the middle where he duels with the group leader, he continues becoming egotistic and his flaw is mildly averted for the climax. He's not the worst, and he's a likable character but truly obnoxious. I was hoping there would be a scene where he would eventually change his ways, but there were none. Also, the film borders along the lines of predictable and cliché; many of the scenes become easy to guess before it happens including the love interest who hates Devon at first but grows to like him, the scene where Jayson is challenged by another team member for his place in band and loses then wins later on, and the climax that became a little cheesy where the two rival schools had a tie and performed a no holds bar drumming battle. Though it was a set-up for the incredible climax, it was a little far-fetched.

Despite its flaws in storytelling and lack of character development, this is one of the most entertaining, original, and exciting films I've seen in years with a solid performance from Orlando Jones. I loved this film, and I was riveted from the beginning to the end; any fan of music needs to watch this.