In the sport of hydroplane racing, the town of Madison, Indiana is unique. Like the citizens of Green Bay, Wisconsin own the NFL’s Packers, the folks in this town own the Miss Madison unlimited hydroplane. They’re David to all the other boat’s corporate sponsor’s Goliath, and in 1971 the people in Madison found themselves armed with an empty slingshot. It was the end of the line, their dying town about to lose the last thing they hold dear, their ultimate humiliation to happen live on ABC’s vaunted “Wild World of Sports.”

Jim McCormick (Jim Caviezel) isn’t about to see his town die without a fight. The Miss Madison’s former pilot, it was once thought McCormick was going to be one of the sport’s biggest stars and brightest talents. A horrendous crash changed all of that, though, and now Jim is content training new drivers and finding ways to make the overweight and out-of-date speedboat competitive without the use of big money and the latest technological advancements. The thing is, even the limited dollars available to him are drying up, the once prosperous town now seeing its ports and shipping lanes left ominously empty.

McCormick knows something must be done, done quickly, before Madison loses its will to go on entirely. The town needs something to give them hope, a reason to find the will to survive, and when the opportunity to host the 1971 Gold Cup presents itself Jim is sure he’s found the answer to do just that. But when financial problems start mounting and the sudden death of his new superstar driver leaves him without a pilot, McCormick decides it is up to him to step once again behind the wheel of the Miss Madison and hopefully find a way to get the boat into victory lane.

In many ways, the new film “Madison” by director and c-writer William Bindley could be called “Hoosiers” with hydroplanes, and a person wouldn’t look a bit silly making the comparison. Both movies are historically lauded Indiana sports legends drowning in local lore and tradition, each of them handsomely mounted small-scale independent productions put together by talented and well-meaning artists looking to tell a good story. There is one major difference between the two, however. “Hoosiers” is a fantastic movie, maybe the best sports-related motion picture ever made; “Madison,” quite simply, is not.

It is not like Bindley and his crew don’t give it their all. “Madison” is a strongly and confidently assembled feature. The production values are surprisingly authentic, the world of small town Indiana circa ’71 recreated in loving detail. Majestically photographed by “El Norte” cinematographer James Glennon and superbly edited by William Hoy (“I, Robot”) the look and feel is nothing less than spot-on. Too bad it’s all so remarkably boring. William and his brother Scott have written a screenplay that is astonishingly inert, the whole thing building turgidly to a climax that’s as much of a forgone conclusion as any cliché-ridden tale I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t help that the Bindley’s use the tired device of a father-son relationship to get from start to finish, the young man portrayed rather badly by “Star Wars: Episode I” actor Jake Lloyd leading me to believe it wasn’t entirely George Lucas’ fault for the kid’s awfulness there.

What the filmmaker’s do have is Caviezel in the lead role. The only reason this 2001 production is finally seeing the light of a domestic release is due to the lead’s clout after the phenomenal success of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.” If anything, he’s every bit as good here as he was in that biblical epic. Caviezel grounds the film, gives it both its conscience and its heart. Every good vibe or feeling “Madison” generates is because of him. In fact, even in the most routine moment of them all the actor pulls things off with surprising aplomb, it nearly impossible to not get a wee bit emotional when McCormick throws back on the old uniform and helmet in order to save his beloved town.

Film Rating: êê  (out of 4)