Movie review: John Cena’s ‘Legendary’
Unlike John Cena’s first two movies, you won’t see him dodging bullets or leaping off buildings in his latest WWE-produced film, “Legendary,” which opens today for a limited engagement.
With “Legendary,” the only leap that Cena takes is a figurative one, as he makes the jump from action movies to a family drama.
As far as challenging himself as an actor, Cena takes baby steps with this project. For the first time in his brief movie career, he is not playing a larger-than-life action hero and engaging in a battle of good versus evil against a stereotypical movie villain. Instead, Cena’s character in “Legendary” battles his own inner turmoil (although he does get to bust some heads in a couple of bar fights, too).
At the core of the film is the fractured relationship between the Chetley brothers – the brooding Mike (Cena) and nerdy teenager Cal (the talented Devon Graye) – who reconnect and gradually bond through amateur wrestling.
Cena gives a subdued performance as a troubled former high school wrestling star who has been estranged from his younger brother and mother (Patricia Clarkson) for years since his father was killed in a car accident. While Cena still does not display a significant degree of acting range, he does do an adequate job of portraying Mike as a good guy who has been emotionally damaged.
I was just glad to see Cena in something other than a mindless action flick, as “Legendary” is part sports movie, part coming-of-age story. It helps the movie that Cena is not counted on to carry it as he was with “The Marine” and “12 Rounds.” Graye is the true star of the film and acclaimed veteran actors Clarkson and Danny Glover also have key roles.
While “Legendary” doesn’t break any new ground and it’s not going to win any major awards, the characters are likeable enough that it will keep your interest and have you rooting for a happy ending.
For more information on “Legendary,” including a list of theaters that are showing the movie, click here .
Comments
Such an odd film choice for the WWE to make. It's probably not going to appeal to their core demographic much, and few beyond their core demographic are going to go see a movie starring John Cena.
Posted by: Ken Raining | September 10, 2010 1:01 AM
Next up: Suburban Commando 2.
Posted by: JTK | September 10, 2010 10:10 AM
"are likeable enough that it will keep your interest and have you rooting for a happy ending"
Sorry Kev this sounds really gay - a happy ending with Cena - sounds like he and Justin Gabriel have been hanging out
Posted by: Brian Lee | September 10, 2010 10:47 AM
I imagine this film will bomb.
Posted by: theorangechimp | September 10, 2010 12:35 PM
This film isn't made to be a blockbuster. It's the WWE's attempt to make low budget, high talent films. It didn't cost much more than $5M to make and between theatrical and DVD it'll easily make its money back. And it'll likely get a lot more positive reviews than their usual shoot 'em ups which will help their image even more.
Posted by: Sam | September 10, 2010 4:12 PM
Who is handling the PR for this movie. Vince should say "you're fired" to whoever is handling trying to get the word about this movie cause its the first I heard about it
Posted by: Mike Drexton | September 10, 2010 4:16 PM
Having wrestled for 12 years, I have yet to see a wrestling movie that accurately depicts the sport. Most display the sport as a self-torture filled with starvation, anorexia, puking and other eating disorders that usually result in a trip to the hospital. Or they make it seem like folkstyle wrestling is nothing but non-stop throws and bodyslams, when they make up about 10% what you might actually see at a wrestling match. Also, they always do a horrendous job at accurately scoring the matches. In football movies you do not see touchdowns worth 4 points, field goals worth 2, etc. So why in wrestling movies should there be takedowns worth 3 points, escapes worth 2 points, and so on.
However, amateur wrestling has seen a huge surge in popularity within the past 3 or 4 years. This is good as over 500 colleges have cut wrestling because of Title IX and the more popular wrestling gets, the more likely they are to keep offering it as a sport. The popularity of MMA and a PG WWE has motivated kids to wrestle. So, wether or not this movie is accurate, I just hope it will convince some kids to wrestle.
Posted by: Zach F | September 10, 2010 6:04 PM
So is it any good?
Apparently, from what I read, this movie is not very good. About as challenging mentally as a pro wrestling match.
I guess when wrestlers act the bar is set pretty low.
Actually with hollywood these days, the rest are not much better.
Very sad.
Posted by: AMC | September 11, 2010 4:26 PM
just watched this movie. it was awful. so drawn out and everyone in the town acted like they needed a stick of dynamite up their a**. kinda depressing. acting was terrible. maybe they could have put the kid at 150 weight class at least to pump things up..just a bit though...
Posted by: J Nor | October 12, 2010 12:20 AM
The Marine was awesome. 12 rounds was the same movie only not as good. Not funny at all. They did a good job with The Marine. A movie for a budget that made money. What else can JC do?
Posted by: Paul | October 13, 2010 1:29 PM
I just watched this movie. I liked it. It's a good movie. It's nice to see Cena challenging himself by doing something other than action movies. I hope to see more movies with Cena and I'm sure that with time, his acting will get better.
Posted by: Joey | December 17, 2010 10:58 PM