Reviewing Movies

Let's be honest here, this movie is an excuse for Channing Tatum to ceremoniously doff his shirt and show off the goods. At 6'1" Tatum is a hulking charismatic presence clothed or unclothed; whatever it is, he has it. The fighting referred to here is bare knuckle back street no holds barred full contact brawling 'performed' for betting audiences in informal settings. As his third-rate promoter sensed when he saw him defend his turf on the streets of New York Shawn is an instinctual kind of fighter whose primeval urges take over when he gets backed into a corner; he has the kind of gut instincts that can't be taught. In the back story we learn that Shawn was a college fighter whose coach father stepped between he and another fighter when he was seized by one of those fighting frenzies. Hence we find him attempting to run away from his demons on the predatory streets of New York.

For a movie called fighting there really isn't much fighting on display here. Shawn does very little training either. The fights we do see are bloodless but brutal and quickly over; the action is hard to follow and there is no stop action slow motion to accentuate it. We see and hear too much from his promoter and the leering predatory gangsters with whom he deals. Of course there is a girl and various other attempts to pad a rather weak plot. The dialogue reads like a newspaper cartoon and the ending couldn't be weaker. The idea that they could just drive away with one million dollars of the mob's money is laughable. Shawn comes off as a tough back-woods hick with a heart of gold.

Tatum is ruggedly handsome. He has a model's high cheekbones, dazzling eyes and a hulking physique. I'd like to see what he could do with it if he seriously applied himself to the gym with a physical trainer.

Now in its 5^th season on air this show seems to have legs. I find it amusing that Dean refers to Sammy as his 'little brother' considering that Jared towers 3 inches above Jensen. The cinematographers do a remarkable job of minimizing that difference onscreen. Whether their sibling rivalries spill over into real life on set I have not been able to find any gossip to date online but in the Sex and Violence episode they get to have a knock em down, drag em out fist fight on screen. These two powerfully built young men could do real damage were they to go at it for real.

In an episode set in a school they once attended they go undercover as gym teacher and janitor. In flashbacks we get to see Jensen as a hormonal teen then as now fixated on groping cheerleaders. Even in a janitor's jumpsuit Jared's narrow hips and broad shoulders make an impressive showing but the middle school Sammy foreshadows the academic bookish man he is to become. Even though forced to level a bully twice his size he does so because he has no other option, not to show off his physical prowess. Even then he was the quiet, intellectual who felt no need to show off, but underneath that introverted nature he possessed the same confident skill and though not eager to brag about the notches on his gun in his own way has always had the same sexual needs leading Dean to crow when he discovers that Sammy has 'scored'. We get to see the extrovert Dean contrasted with the introvert Sam remains; expect it's clear which one I prefer.

How, in this age of modern communications, this duo manages to stay one step in front of the law as they impersonate FBI Agents, use fake ID and forged credit cards, and break into crime scenes and people's homes is still a mystery as is why they've never been pulled over for speeding. The show definitely ties into America's love affair with guns and other weapons of violence; the arsenal in the trunk of their car is awesome.

Since the first season the show has definitely picked up on the rapport between the two lead actors. It has become more of a buddy road trip during which surreal events take place; where the emphasis is put on how the experience affects these two individuals rather than strictly an investigation of supernatural occurrences.

What could be more quintessentially Canadian then a bunch of guys renting a bus and driving across country. Why not have them film Joshua Jackson doing the same on a motorcycle. Did I mention that he's making the trip in reaction to hearing a diagnosis of terminal cancer? In true Canadian spirit this is movie-making on a shoe-string, the crew fill in for characters Joshua meets along the way and iconic musicians whose music provides the playlist for the journey pop up as well Gord Downie on a chopper and Joel Plaskett as a street busker. Joshua Jackson gets an Executive Production credit which would indicate that he put up some of his own money to see the movie completed.

This is a Canadian Road movie with the British-made Norton bike provided by one of the crew. Jackson does the stereotypical photos of himself with tourist attractions in the background. I've actually seen most of the 'world's largest' attractions he posed in front of but I wasn't moved to photograph them. Jackson shows few signs of the illness which provides the pretext for his journey but the camera does make the 30-year-old actor look somewhat bloated. There is a poignant moment when he stands in front of the rusting statue of Terry Fox near Thunder Bay. Somehow that dour, quizzical look seems to be his natural fall-back expression, under the circumstances he's not required to smile or appear to take particular enjoyment in his journey.

I'm not sold on the concept of Campbell Scott's background narration which begins the movie and runs throughout. Not being a Hollywood opus with a budget in the millions the production values are what one would expect. The exterior shots of the Canadian panorama are impressive but the lighting of night shots and interiors suffers. The cuts to the long-suffering girl friend back home tend to interrupt the movie's flow. Liane Balaban comes off somewhat bitchy and self-centred. It may be that this movie attempts to do too much at once and gets side-tracked from its true purpose. Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's Long Way Round is in my library and I suppose I need to see if I like the way they treated a motorcycle road trip better. With the odometer on my RV clicking toward the 37,000 kilometre mark I can truly identify with a desire to engage in an odyssey or visionquest. Aside from a final cut to a bookstore window display of Ben's published second novel One Week we are given no indication of the outcome of the underlying story.