‘The Royal’ Review: A Humbled Baseball Hero Takes a Second Swing After a Drug Arrest Derails His Life

variety.com:

Lisa Kennedy In 1980, the auspiciously named first baseman Willie Mays Aikens made baseball history when he hit two home runs in two World Series games, a feat that wasn’t repeated until 2009.

That year, the Kansas City Royals player was second in home runs and RBIs only to teammate, friend and future Hall of Famer, George Brett.Directed by Marcel Sarmiento, “The Royal” isn’t obsessed with Aikens’ on-the-field triumphs.

Instead — with a script by Gregory W. Jordan, based on the 2012 book he co-wrote with Aiken, “Willie Mays Aikens: Safe at Home” — the movie recounts what happened to the major league slugger after he served 14 years for crack cocaine possession and distribution.In 1994, under the inequitable federal sentencing guidelines, Aikens was sentenced to more than 20 years for possession with intent to sell 50 grams of crack cocaine. (He’d have had to be in possession of five kilos of powdered coke to receive a similar sentence.) He was released early because the federal mandatory minimums were revised and made retrospective.

Although “The Royal” touches on his conviction and utilizes archival footage of Aikens’ actual home runs, it’s his out-of-prison challenges that propel the story.