John Cena gets body-slammed by indie cinema
Making the transition from any sort of entertainment profession like being a professional wrestler or a musician to being a full-time working actor is something many attempt but few successfully pull off. LL Cool J and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson have managed to become credible working actors, leaving the realm of music and the WWE behind full time respectively, but for every LL Cool J there’s an army of rappers and a smaller amount of professional wrestlers with a handful of screen credits that couldn’t make it a full time career. After 12 Rounds and The Marine, John Cena proved capable of being a credible leading man despite both films failing to find an audience both commercially and critically. Now he’s back under the WWE studio banner directly with Legendary, a coming of age film about amateur wrestling.
Cal (Devon Graye) is the typical high school geek with quite the heritage. His older brother Mike (Cena) was a legendary high school and college wrestler, as was their father. After his father’s death at a young age, Mike has been estranged from his brother and mother for over a decade. Mike went from being a first rate wrestler to working as a day laborer, living in a decrepit trailer in dealing with his grief. When Cal’s curiosity about the sport gets the better of him, against the wishes of his mother (Patricia Clarkson), the sport ends up becoming the thing that brings the family back together as Mike and Cal bond over their shared training to help Cal follow in the family business.
A coming of age story, this is less Cena’s film than Devon Graye’s. With a bit part in the hit Showtime series Dexter as the younger version of Michael C. Hall’s protagonist seen only in flashbacks, Graye is the one with a true character arc. When we first meet Cal he’s the odd ball in a family of athletes. Both his father and brother were local wrestling legends and Cal doesn’t have any of the outward signs of being a great athlete or a great amateur wrestler. The film follows him on his quest at trying to be the best wrestler a skinny, awkward kid can become over the length of a wrestling season. With intermittent advice from Harry (Danny Glover) at critical times, the film follows Cal as he goes from being a boy who is lost to a man who has begun to find his way.
He acquits himself admirably given the film has an easy to follow and very predictable plotline; this is a paint by numbers film that just uses amateur wrestling as its device. Granted it’s not a true representation, as it gives it a more Hollywood feel, but it gives it some uniqueness in a field dominated by team sports. There isn’t anything new or unique to this approach, just the presentation. It does allow for a pair of interesting performances by Clarkson and Cena.
Clarkson brings significantly more class to the production by her presence alone. With one Oscar nomination already under her belt, and another half dozen performances worthy of the honor, Clarkson elevates what’s a rather ordinary role and gives it some meaning that it shouldn’t. There isn’t an ounce of originality in anything she says or does but Clarkson is a gifted enough actress that she gives the role some meaning. We care about the whole situation because she lends it the dramatic gravitas the script doesn’t give it. She elevates the performances of Graye and Cena by her sheer presence. She and Cena only share a handful of scenes but he gives his best on screen whenever she’s on it with him. Cena isn’t given much to do with dialogue, mainly using his physicality instead of passionate speeches, and it works because Damski wisely maximizes what Cena is best skilled at: not talking. He has presence and charisma but the acting talent isn’t quite there yet; he has enough potential to be a very good actor he just isn’t there yet.
Legendary is from being that adjective, but Slightly above mediocre doesn’t sound quite as good.
Director: Mel Damski
Notable Cast: John Cena, Patricia Clarkson, Devon Graye, Danny Glover, Madeleine Martin
Writer(s): John Posey
