Movies From the Hat 7 – #14 – Gavin’s Pick – Goon (2011)

This is my 3959th Review

Thanks to Gavin of Mini Media Reviews for this recommendation.

 

“Everybody loves the soldiers until they come home and stop fighting. ” – Ross

Number of Times Seen – 1 (11 Apr 2018)

Brief Synopsis – A bouncer finds himself recruited by a professional hockey team in order to fight opposing teams on the ice.

My Take on it – This is a film that I had high hopes for based on the fact that it starred Seann William Scott, Liev Schrieber, Jay Buruchel and Eugene Levy.

I’m personally not the biggest fan of any kind of sport but I know enough about hockey having grown up right near the US/Canadian border, so I had numerous friends that were die hard fans of the sport.

The idea presented here is an interesting one and perhaps if I was a fan of hockey, it would have spoken to me even clearer, but instead, it was just an average sports film that gets a bit brutal when it comes to team violence.

The story itself works within the constraints of the premise yet it’s hard to say that they do more than just an average job presenting it.

The cast (as I mentioned earlier) is quite talented, but none of them manage to really get a meaty enough part to shine through.

The mix of the brutality of the sport of hockey and humor works much better in Slap Shot (1977) than it does here.

Bottom Line – Interesting idea that might actually work better for those who are bigger fans of the sport of Hockey.  The story works within its constraints and they do an average job presenting it.  The cast is also ok but none of them really shine in their roles.  The fact that hockey is a brutal sport is a well known fact, but this film tries to add a bit of humor to the carnage and it doesn’t make the film any more enjoyable than average.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – In some scenes there is a Highlanders player named Hanson and his number is 17 in which is a reference from The Hanson Brothers in Slap Shot (1977). (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (6/10)

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