"The Tragic Downfall of an NFL Star"
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What You Need To Know:
McNair’s murder is revealed immediately in UNTOLD: THE MURDER OF AIR MCNAIR. However, the documentary does a great job building tension as it walks through the case and eventually reveals who committed the murder. The movie is excellent at succinctly explaining who McNair is and the legacy he left on the NFL. It helps viewers understand the significance of his death. McNair’s story offers a powerful example of the way our sins always catch up to us. Furthermore, one of the main interviewees strongly promotes prayer at the end of the movie. He explains how he would lead the Tennessee Titans in the Lord’s Prayer before every game when he was the team’s head coach. However, UNTOLD has some strong foul language and shows bloody crime scene photos. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.
Content:
More Detail:
UNTOLD: THE MURDER OF AIR MCNAIR deconstructs the events that led to the murder of star NFL quarterback Steve “Air” McNair. The engaging documentary style offers an entertaining experience while diving into a tragedy that rocked the sports world. McNair’s death was ultimately caused by his unfaithfulness to his wife, an aspect of this life that, sadly, many of the people being interviewed don’t view in a negative light.
The documentary begins with the 911 call from Robert Gaddy, McNair’s friend who notified the police of the murder. Gaddy goes on to explain the violent crime scene that he sees in front of him, McNair and an unidentified woman dead, while images of the scene flash on screen. Afterward, archive news footage begins to play as McNair’s all-star status in pro football begins to be revealed.
McNair’s former NFL coach with the Tennessee Titans recalls his rise from obscurity as a quarterback at Alcorn State to becoming a franchise-caliber quarterback in the NFL. McNair led the Titans to the Superbowl in their first season in the league.
After establishing McNair’s stardom, the documentary introduces the first two persons of interest in the murder. The first is Wayne Neely, the landlord who found McNair dead. Instead of calling the police, Neely calls Gaddy to have him check in on McNair. The next person is Gaddy who alerted the police about the murder. He and McNair had had a falling out in the previous month when Gaddy stole $13,000 from McNair. Neither Neely or Gaddy, however, had a great motive to kill McNair.
As the investigation continues, the police identify the dead woman as Jenni, a worker at a local Dave & Busters who had recently gotten romantically involved with McNair. They had gotten to the point that they were talking about a future together, and McNair had told her he would divorce his wife and marry her.
However, McNair was purely using her for pleasure. She found this out the weekend before his murder when she got a DUI and he didn’t bail her out of jail. While McNair was sneaking off from his wife to be with her, Jenni had also broken a relationship. She had broken up with her boyfriend so she could date the quarterback exclusively.
Thus, Jenni’s former boyfriend became person of interest number three. The police theorized that he could have killed McNair out of jealousy. Keith Norfleet, the boyfriend, however, was a huge fan of McNair’s. Also, although he was heartbroken when Jenni broke off their relationship, he would never have killed his football hero.
As the police continue to dig into the case, they develop a better understanding of Jenni and realize that she was leaning on McNair for both monetary and emotional support. She became quite clinging. Then, when she realized McNair didn’t actually love her, she became extremely mentally insecure.
After spending a weekend in jail for her DUI, Jenni purchased a gun from Adrian Gilliam, the man who became person of interest number four. He had sold Jenni the gun only hours before her and McNair’s death. A fellow waitress at Dave & Busters had reached out to Jenni during that time too. Jenni shared with her that she had become suicidal, saying she felt like ending it all.
These two pieces of evidence caused the police to conclude the murder was a murder-suicide with Jenni shooing McNair before killing herself.
A private investigator introduced in the final minutes of the documentary, however, doesn’t believe the case is that simple. He explains why Gilliam or even Gabby could have killed both Jenni and McNair. Officially, though, McNair’s death remains attributed to Jenni.
UNTOLD: THE MURDER OF AIR MCNAIR offers a shocking allegory for the consequences of our sins. Though McNair was content cheating on his wife, and the people around him approved of it, this decision ultimately led to his death. As with most Netflix documentaries, the story is extremely compelling and is crafted into a succinct narrative that offers a comprehensive view of the story.
The documentary offers a biblical lesson on the consequences of our sins. It also features a positive reference to Christianity with the former coach of the Tennessee Titans leading the team in the Lord’s Prayer before every game. Sadly, UNTOLD is marred by infrequent but strong foul language, including two “f” words, along with bloody images shown from the crime scene. MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.
