I find this a very odd choice to do my first "official" movie review but that's the way things work out sometimes I guess. I had some personal issues today that made it a long day and when I had a couple of hours to kill I wanted to watch a movie that I wasn't going to have to think a lot about. Basically I needed something simple. Besides being a big movie fan, I'm also a huge wrestling fan. WWE, the primary wrestling organization going today, has started making films in the past couple of years....with VERY minimal success. "Legendary" was released last year by WWE Films to poor reviews. As of this writing, it has a 17% approval rating on rottentomatoes.com, which is obviously not good at all. But I ended up being quite surprised by the film and found it a pleasant watch.
The film stars WWE superstar John Cena as a former high school state wrestling champion who has been estranged from his family for many years. He often finds himself in trouble with the law, but usually not due to something he creates. He seems to be one of those people where trouble just happens to find them even though they are not looking for it. Cena's character Mike has been alienated from his mother and younger brother since the death of their father who was also a star wrestler. While Cena is the star of the film, the story primarily centers around his younger brother Cal, played by Devon Graye, who when we first see him seems to be a loner and gets picked on by some bullies who also happen to be on the school wrestling squad. Cal decides to join the wrestling team even though he is inexperienced and much smaller than his older brother. Cal seeks out Mike to train him, against his mothers wishes, and is initially turned down by Mike. We start to learn that Cal's primary motive is not to become a great wrestler, but he actually hopes to reunite his brother with the family. Mike eventually decides to take on the role of trainer and slowly Cal becomes a better wrestler and starts winning matches while Mike starts to rebuild the relationship with his mother.
I found this story much more enjoyable then I thought I would. I figured the story would be very predictable and while part of it is there are definitely a few surprises. While most of the acting is via inexperienced performers, there are a couple of more established stars in the film. Patricia Clarkson plays the mother of Cal and Mike and does a fine enough job. The performance is nothing special but it's not offensive either. Danny Glover has a part as the narrator of the story and shows up on occasion to provide cliched speeches to Cal about not giving up and such. Once again, nothing offensive about the role and Glover is usually nice to have around in a movie, but most of his stuff is very much cliched here. Cal has a girlfriend named Luli, played by Madeleine Martin who is someone I am not familiar with but she has a charm about her that I just found enjoyable. It's a small role just to have someone to support Cal along the way, but I liked her.
While this is not a must see film by any means, if you ever have some down time and can't think of anything to watch, you might find some entertainment here. It's a feel good type movie and is geared towards families. There were a few times when I rolled my eyes (the pyro scenes before the last match. cmon) but overall I found a lot here that I liked. It was definitely a pleasant surprise.
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