Is The Rocket in French or English?

Both. The original version switches naturally between Quebecois French (when Richard is with his family, French-speaking teammates, and fans) and English (when dealing with NHL management, referees, and Anglo players). Unless you watch a fully dubbed version, non-French speakers will be reading subtitles for about half the film—which actually makes the linguistic divide at the heart of the story hit much harder.

Why did critics give it a 56% on Rotten Tomatoes when audiences gave it 88%?

Film critics knocked it for following the standard cradle-to-legend biopic playbook—humble beginnings, supportive wife, montage of goals, big climax. Hockey fans and general audiences didn't care about the formula because Roy Dupuis is electric as Richard and the on-ice hockey scenes are among the best ever filmed.

How violent are the hockey scenes compared to a movie like Miracle?

Noticeably bloodier. In the 1940s and 50s, nobody wore helmets and opposing players openly targeted Richard with high sticks and elbows to the head. You see stitched-up gashes, blood on the ice, a grotesque ankle break, and the infamous incident where Richard snaps, slashes an opponent, and punches a linesman.

Is this the same movie as the 2013 film called The Rocket?

No. This is the 2005 Canadian hockey biopic (titled Maurice Richard in French and The Rocket in English markets). There is also a terrific 2013 Australian-Laotian drama called The Rocket about a young boy in Laos who builds a giant firework rocket—a completely different film.

The Rocket – WISE Score & Parent Review

Name: Screenwise
Author: Screenwise

Where to Watch

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Screenwise Verdict

Most sports biopics are paint-by-numbers hagiographies with bad fake skating. The Rocket (originally Maurice Richard in Quebec) dodges the worst of those traps by casting actual NHL heavyweights like Sean Avery and Vincent Lecavalier to fill out the rosters, and by treating 1940s hockey like the street fight it was. Roy Dupuis plays Richard with a terrifying, laser-locked glare that explains why goalies of that era had nightmares about him.

Critics outside Canada were lukewarm on its traditional biopic structure (56% on Rotten Tomatoes), while audiences loved it (88%). For a kid who plays hockey or loves sports history, it is an easy win. It doesn't preach about anti-Francophone discrimination in the mid-century NHL; it shows it through crooked contracts, biased officiating, and the build-up to the infamous 1955 Richard Riot. Just know going in that half the dialogue is in Quebecois French, so subtitles are part of the deal.

Age Fit

Sweet spot is 10 and up, especially for hockey kids who can handle subtitles and want to see what the sport looked like when six teams beat the tar out of each other without helmets.

WISE Breakdown

Wholesome

82

Models perseverance, loyalty to community, and standing up against systemic prejudice in the 1940s and 50s NHL. Richard's fiery temper on the ice is a central plot point, balanced by strong family devotion.

Imaginative

72

Follows a traditional sports biopic structure, though the cinematography and visceral recreation of 1940s helmetless hockey give it strong visual flair and historical texture.

Safe

78

Features brutal, realistic vintage hockey violence (bare-knuckle fights, sticks to the head, blood on the ice, broken bones) and period-accurate anti-French-Canadian prejudice and profanity. Nothing gratuitous or shocking outside the context of old-time hockey.

Enriching

86

Rich historical look at the linguistic and class divide in mid-century Quebec, showing how a sports figure became a cultural catalyst for the Quiet Revolution. Great sports history too.

Parent Info

✓

Why It Might Be Great

Real NHL players on the ice. Director Charles Binamé cast actual pros like Sean Avery, Ian Laperrière, and Vincent Lecavalier as the opposing goons and teammates, so the skating and hits look genuinely fast and heavy rather than actor-slow.
History disguised as a sports movie. It captures why Maurice Richard mattered so much to working-class French Canadians in the 1940s and 50s, turning hockey into a sharp history lesson on linguistic prejudice and labor power.
Zero-fluff pacing. Even as a period biopic, the on-ice sequences move fast and hit hard, making it much easier for a sports-minded tween or teen to stay locked in.

⚠

What to Watch For

Original Six hockey was a bloodbath. Nobody wears a helmet, players take sticks to the face, and there are stitched-up cuts, broken ankles, and bench-clearing brawls that look much rougher than modern NHL games.
Subtitle literacy required. The movie naturally switches between French (at home and in Montreal) and English (on the ice and with league bosses), so kids who hate reading subtitles will bounce unless they speak French.
A hero with a genuine temper. Richard's famous rage is what makes him great and what gets him suspended; the movie doesn't sanitize the moment he snaps and hits a linesman.

Conversation Starters

"Why do you think a hockey player's suspension was enough to start a full-scale riot in Montreal in 1955?"
"Maurice's temper made him an unstoppable scorer, but it also cost him the scoring title. Where is the line between playing with fire and losing control?"
"How different would hockey look today if players still played without helmets and stayed with one team under those old contract rules?"

Deep Dive

Why the hockey actually looks real

The quickest way to lose a kid who plays travel hockey is fake movie skating. Director Charles Binamé solved this by hiring active and former NHL players to play the 1940s legends and bruisers. Vincent Lecavalier plays Jean Béliveau, Mike Ricci plays Elmer Lach, and notorious NHL pest Sean Avery plays Bob Dill, the New York Ranger whose real-life job was to try to break Richard's ankles. Because these guys can skate at full speed in vintage wool sweaters and leather skates, the on-ice camera work feels claustrophobic and dangerous.

More than a stat sheet

If a kid only knows Maurice "The Rocket" Richard as the name on the NHL's goal-scoring trophy, this fills in why he was treated like royalty in Quebec. In the 1940s and 50s, French Canadians were largely treated as second-class citizens in their own province—working the factory floors while English speakers ran the companies, including the Montreal Canadiens and the NHL front office.

When NHL president Clarence Campbell suspended Richard for the rest of the 1954–55 season and playoffs after a violent stick-swinging incident, Montrealers saw it as the ultimate double standard. The movie ends with the resulting Richard Riot, which historians often point to as the opening spark of Quebec's Quiet Revolution.

Comparable picks for sports-minded kids

Miracle (2004): Shares the same commitment to casting real hockey players and letting the on-ice intensity carry the movie, though Miracle is cleaner and purely in English.
42 (2013): A very similar structural blueprint—a traditional, straightforward period biopic about an athlete breaking through systemic prejudice with his temper constantly tested by opposing players.

What Parents Ask

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