DVD Review: Legendary

DVD Review: Legendary

By Phil Allely

WWE films fall into three distinct categories, the good, the bad and the downright ugly. Fortunately this John Cena starring new release falls into the former. It may not have been a blockbusting hit in the cinemas across the states (it never saw a UK release), but the film has some great things going for it.

Legendary is set in Oklahoma and revolves around a nerdy young man who not only misses his older sibling and dead father, but feels he is lacking something in life. We meet a young Cal Chetley first as a teenage wannabe fish farmer with peer pressure issues. The movie follows his trials an tribulations as he finds his place in the whole scheme of things and realises his families dreams and history are all part of his own being.

Chetley’s estranged brother Mike (Cena) and father were both well known and highly respected wrestling stars in the state and Cal decided to follow in their footsteps, against his mother Sharon’s wishes, wrestling being the thing that drove a wedge between the family to begin with.

John Cena does a pretty good job of portraying the brooding and lost big brother character of Mike, a man who is plodding along on a path to nowhere. Pub brawls and a trailer park life seemingly the best he’s going to get, however when Cal comes calling and shows an as yet undetermined eagerness for wrestling even Mike can’t stay away for long. The scenes of Mike training Cal and his subsequent matches are paced perfectly for mass appeal. This is real Rocky/underdog territory at times, which works very well indeed.

Legendary is a heart-warming, if predictable tale of a family who find themselves once again through a shared interest. The wrestling storyline is a central thread, but not the be all and end all here, the actors and script giving this more depth than many gave it credit for. The WWE should be proud of producing a feature that doesn’t offer any negativity to their product and shows one of their main roster members in a good light indeed.

Cena may not be the best wrestler/actor ever, but he plays this role well, his fight scenes are believable and he does do the put upon bad boy come good character well. The supporting cast of top notch supporting actors Patricia Clarkson and Danny Glover add weight to the piece as well.

Whilst Legendary isn’t going to pull off a shock win at an awards ceremony anytime soon, the overall product and message it has does have a lasting appeal.

Legendary is on general release now.