Grunt! The Wrestling Movie
I've been feeling guilty that I've been reviewing mainstream movies. With this film I get back to my roots: crap.
I'm a wrestling fan. However, I'm not a fan of the WWE which means I pretty much never see wrestling any more since WWE bought and ruined WCW and ECW. I don't think there has ever been a good wrestling movie. Grunt comes closest.
Grunt is a pseudo-documentary about a wrestler by the name of Mad Dog who has gone missing. You see, it turns out that several years ago Mad Dog was in a wrestling match and when his opponent's head got caught in the ropes of the ring, Mad Dog kept hitting him which resulted in the opponent being decapitated. Disgraced, Mad Dog left the business, and is rumored to have killed himself by jumping off a bridge. Now a new wrestler, The Mask, has taken the wrestling world by storm with moves and a physique that look wearily similar to Mad Dog. The documentarian within the film sets out to find out if it really is Mad Dog underneath the mask.
I think that one of the reasons why there has never been a good wrestling film is that they inevitably act as if wrestling were a true athletic competition rather than a scripted form of entertainment. It is this inability to take wrestling for what it is that makes it difficult to enjoy wrestling films. People who don't like wrestling think "Oh it is fake!" and won't watch it and people who like wrestling know that the outcomes of the matches are predetermined so when the film tries to bethe Rocky of wrestling they get turned off because they know that isn't realistic.
Grunt manages to almost pull it off by not taking itself tooesriously. There are some lame jokes but there are also some that are pretty funny. It also works because it deals with fans and people on the outside of the wrestling world who are tring to find out the identity of the man behind The Mask rather than being told from the inside of the business. Because it is over 20 years old and looks old it is easy to tell yourself, "Back then the wrestlers tried to convince people it was true and not all fans knew that it was not a real competition." By looking in from the outside they avoid any of the stuff about whether or not the matches are predetermined and can just focus on the mystery and the wrestling.
And focus on the wrestling it does. If you aren't a true wrestling fan then there's no way you will make it through this. Even I couldn't make it through without fast forwarding. The film is something like 110 minutes and I would guess that at least 40 of that is taken up by wrestling including one 20+ minute match at the end. One could argue that the long match at the end was necessary because that is where we learn the truth about Mad Dog and to be honest that was the only match I fast forwarded through. But it was just too long.
At the end you do find out who is under The Mask and what happened to Mad Dog but you don't really learn any of the whys or the hows. The documentarian kind of remarks on that at the end but it still leaves an empty feeling to the film.
three thumbs up
I say remake it
we need a good wrestling film
and this could be it
I'm a wrestling fan. However, I'm not a fan of the WWE which means I pretty much never see wrestling any more since WWE bought and ruined WCW and ECW. I don't think there has ever been a good wrestling movie. Grunt comes closest.
Grunt is a pseudo-documentary about a wrestler by the name of Mad Dog who has gone missing. You see, it turns out that several years ago Mad Dog was in a wrestling match and when his opponent's head got caught in the ropes of the ring, Mad Dog kept hitting him which resulted in the opponent being decapitated. Disgraced, Mad Dog left the business, and is rumored to have killed himself by jumping off a bridge. Now a new wrestler, The Mask, has taken the wrestling world by storm with moves and a physique that look wearily similar to Mad Dog. The documentarian within the film sets out to find out if it really is Mad Dog underneath the mask.
I think that one of the reasons why there has never been a good wrestling film is that they inevitably act as if wrestling were a true athletic competition rather than a scripted form of entertainment. It is this inability to take wrestling for what it is that makes it difficult to enjoy wrestling films. People who don't like wrestling think "Oh it is fake!" and won't watch it and people who like wrestling know that the outcomes of the matches are predetermined so when the film tries to bethe Rocky of wrestling they get turned off because they know that isn't realistic.
Grunt manages to almost pull it off by not taking itself tooesriously. There are some lame jokes but there are also some that are pretty funny. It also works because it deals with fans and people on the outside of the wrestling world who are tring to find out the identity of the man behind The Mask rather than being told from the inside of the business. Because it is over 20 years old and looks old it is easy to tell yourself, "Back then the wrestlers tried to convince people it was true and not all fans knew that it was not a real competition." By looking in from the outside they avoid any of the stuff about whether or not the matches are predetermined and can just focus on the mystery and the wrestling.
And focus on the wrestling it does. If you aren't a true wrestling fan then there's no way you will make it through this. Even I couldn't make it through without fast forwarding. The film is something like 110 minutes and I would guess that at least 40 of that is taken up by wrestling including one 20+ minute match at the end. One could argue that the long match at the end was necessary because that is where we learn the truth about Mad Dog and to be honest that was the only match I fast forwarded through. But it was just too long.
At the end you do find out who is under The Mask and what happened to Mad Dog but you don't really learn any of the whys or the hows. The documentarian kind of remarks on that at the end but it still leaves an empty feeling to the film.
three thumbs up
I say remake it
we need a good wrestling film
and this could be it
