Goon: Last of the Enforcers

"That was a ******* ****show, eh"

And with that line, Liev Schreiber summed up this sequel best.

'Goon' not only made me fall in love with hockey, but it was virtually an introduction to Canadian culture for me - as I moved from Australia to Canada mere months after watching it years ago. So safe to say, I had high hopes for 'Goon: Last of the Enforcers', and remained open-minded despite all the bad reviews.

I'm being generous with my 6/10 rating. It was pretty clear from early-on, that this sequel lacked all the charm and direction of its predecessor. Many jokes fell flat, and some scenes were just filled with far too much cringe. If it wasn't for my love of the characters from the first film, there's no way I would have persisted with seeing this one through.

Baruchel's directing didn't do the film any favours. At times it felt like he'd just got really stoned while watching Rocky II and thought it would be a fun idea to put it on ice. Despite all its downfalls, I still enjoyed a couple of laughs towards the end and Schreiber's performance was a highlight.

I never really felt fully into it though, and I'm left a little disappointed at what could have been. I feel like I've been hit over the head and have no brain cells left after watching. But maybe that was the point of this altogether.

So I was a huge fan of the first Goon movie, so when I herd that it was going to have a sequel I could not wait to see it. Sean William Scott returns as Doug Glatt, a Dim witted but has a heat of gold Hockey player, playing in the minors on his last legs when the son of his boss takes him out of hockey for what seems like forever but interesting enough he gets a comeback thanks to old rival and mentor Ross Rena(played by Liev Schreiber, who I'm so happy returned to do this film) It's not a Hockey movie or a sports movie ironically (or at least not the best one I've ever screen.), but it has the essence of true sportsmanship and the underdog gone good, but most of all it's about goons. That's the thing they get right in this. If you love the first movie you'll like this movie for the same reason.

So if you don't know, there was a 2012 movie called "Goon" which was made on a shoestring budget and starred Sean William Scott, written by the guy who voices Hiccup in those "How to Train Your Dragon" movies.

It had a bit of success, even getting nominated at the Canadian Screen Awards (yes, that's a thing apparently) and so on this weekend, probably the slowest weekend in the history of film, the best new release we got is a movie with Stifler.

He's this minor league hockey player named Doug Glatt and what separates him from a lot of sports movies is that Glatt isn't really there because he's especially skilled. He's just really good at putting a hurt on opposing players.

But here a broken arm and approaching fatherhood forces him to have to reassess everything and whether or not he can keep playing or not.

There's nothing terribly special here but I do really like the character that Scott has created, who feels like an Adam Sandler creation back when you can still say Sandler gave a damn.

Doug is the nicest, most simple-minded roughneck in the game and Scott proves that he has maybe been either underrated or typecast with the whole Stifler thing. There is more he can give us and this role has proved it.

I also liked his relationship with an old rival now turned mentor played by Liev Schreiber.

Doug's teammates are all a mix of Canadian and Russian cartoons but they're still enjoyable "dick joke" loving sidekicks, but it's TJ Miller and Jason Jones who get the material that's going to make people howl with the most laughter.

Of course this wouldn't be a "Goon" movie without one man beating another man to a bloody pulp and you'll get that here, especially in a grand gladiatorial final showdown between Scott and the lead antagonist played by Wyatt Russell.

This isn't as good as the first. The story is all over the place, with characters retiring and coming back, health concerns being discussed and then discarded. Seems like Jay Baruchel wanted to address some real issues here but he never frames them right.

It's also just not as funny. If you've seen the first movie you know what to expect and that's basically what you get here.

What saves it from being a total waste of time though is that Doug and company are, despite the heavier themes which way the movie down, still fun to watch.

So I go 6 out of 10 guys. If you liked this, check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more.

Out of the gate there's nothing inherently awful about this movie. It shorthand catches you up to where Doug Glatt is now. Pretty much everyone returns from the first movie. But as they start to set up the plot things start to feel a bit tired. The Russian duo on the team are still insulting everyone and making crude jokes about their mothers. But it all feels more like a checklist of showing everyone is back to their same old high jinks rather than creating new jokes. Even Jay Baruchel directing himself just looked to me like he was going through the motions.

Once it got to the 20 minute mark I realized I hadn't so much as cracked a smile. With that in mind I intended to take note when such a moment happened but it never did. When you don't write a different enough story than the first movie you're kind of stuck rehashing old jokes.

And finally, this movie really lacked the heart of the original. The first wasn't a masterpiece by any means but it played around with some of the teammate dynamics in an interesting way. And the whole old guard/new guard with Liev Schreiber worked well then too.

As far as the good stuff in this movie I'd say all the performances are fine. Liev Schreiber is solid again but perhaps a little underutilized. Seann William Scott was decent but thought it was a step back from his first portrayal.

Overall, I'd say don't rush out and watch it but if you love the first you might like this too.

A sequel to hockey. In real life, these muzzles would hardly survive. Blood flies and hockey is played. On the other hand, the effects of drama are also brought to the fore. Still a pretty mediocre movie, though on the other hand quite entertaining.