LEGENDARY 2/4 stars
Samuel Goldwyn Film, Rated PG-13
With a title spouting unearned bragging rights and a soapy script less suited to movie theaters than a small-screen afterschool special, Legendary is anything but. Likely seeking to ride in on the coattails of the reigning cinematic grappling champ The Wrestler, Legendary is more pity party than provocative pummel pageant.
Not that John Cena doesn’t radiate subdued menace and cool daring on screen. The problem is he’s intended as strictly dramatic wallpaper to this coming-of-age derivative of countless other sports tales, though he does upstage the main action whenever he turns up from the shadows on screen.
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World heavyweight champion and WWE fixture John Cena is Mike Chetley, a brooding blue collar underachiever long out of touch with and estranged from his family since the death of his father, in which he feels implicated. Before leaving his Oklahoma town, coulda-been-a-contender Mike was that legendary high school wrestling star referred to in the title.
When Mike’s skinny geek 15-year-old brother Cal (Devon Traye)—who’d rather be hanging at the river with a fellow fishing enthusiast (Danny Glover) who may or may not be a figment of his imagination—becomes the target of school bullies, the teen outcast—in an effort to ward off his tormentors, while at the same time aspiring to his older sibling’s extra-curricular star status—signs up to train for the wrestling team. His mother Sharon’s (Patricia Clarkson) disapproving scorn leads Cal to sneak to wrestling practice, as well as secretly leave town to pester his less-than-enthused brother, who Sharon continues to harbor resentments, for training tips.
Devon Traye (R.) in Legendary
An apparent venture in multi-tasking, Legendary stars a pro wrestler (Cena) portraying a failed wrestler, and is scripted by a writer (John Posey) casting himself as the high school wrestling coach. And Legendary director Mel Damski, better known for small screen fare (Psych, Picket Fences, The Practice), was an all-Nassau County, Long Island football and baseball selection and a former sports writer for Newsday. Maybe he should have stuck to what he knows best—the outcome of this athletic screen contest comes off with about as much unpredictability as a fixed fight.
