Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice

To think after over 30 years the Hanson Brothers are still playing hockey for the Charlestown Chiefs. They all looked a little long in the tooth for that rugged sport. That's part of what did not make me buy into this film as a sequel.

They're the only ones that are back though. And it seems they never got to Minnesota as was promised in the original film. Stephen Baldwin is a player/coach and they're still the same lovable misfits who play Gonzo hockey. But Slapshot 2: Breaking The Ice has the team sold and moving again, this time to Omaha, Nebraska.

Where the guy who has now bought them millionaire Gary Busey who's big into family values thinks that hockey is way too violent for the kiddies. So he's forming a new league and is taking a leaf from the World Wrestling Federation. He's going to have a hero time, composed of clean cut college hockey players who will be the good guys and he's buying the Chiefs to function as the bad guys. The games will be like WWF matches only the good guys will always win. Watching the idea I thought it was as bad as the Recon unit always losing in Heartbreak Ridge. They've even hired a choreographer for the matches.

The money looks good, but there's something missing of course. The one who takes it worse is David Paetkau who is hoping to get picked up by a National Hockey League franchise.

Sad to say the idea of a WWF type hockey entertainment is a bad idea and sadder to say for Slapshot 2: Breaking The Ice it translates to the screen. Everyone here knows it and goes through the motions. This is one far stretch from the free wheeling original Slapshot film.

Even the Hanson Brothers can't save it.

Only one underdeveloped plot element ties this to the earlier film. The Hanson Brothers are back briefly; since they are clearly twenty years older than they were in the first movie, this is perhaps wise. Any attempt to equal their importance to the original would have been silly at best. And outside of them, the only reason to make this a sequel is to piggyback on the success of the original. Crass and shameful, to say the least. That said, this movie isn't really bad, but it's nothing to get excited about either. Jessica Steen and Callum Keith Rennie are utterly wasted. The film rests on the rather inadequate shoulders of Stephen Baldwin, who, in addition to having gone somewhat to seed in the last few years, seems unable to portray any emotional depth. There is a satirical level to the screenplay, indicting the trend toward sport as show business, and the production values are fine, but it all amounts to a minor diversion.

The script for Slap Shot 2-Breaking the Ice should have been thoroughly reviewed over and over with a fine-tooth comb before they started filming. It was up against the awesome classic original and the writers and producers knew very well that fans of the original Slap Shot were just thirsting for a really funny and good follow up if one was going to be made at all. A control group of viewers who saw the original back in 1977 at the theater should have been consulted (Me, for one.) I'm only giving this movie a generous 3 stars out of 10, one for each of the Hanson Brothers. They deserved better than this. The message of hockey becoming too antiseptic and "entertainment" instead of sport was lost in the mess. I did NOT like the "hockey chick" thing with Jessica Steen playing the new female coach, and she had the personality of a doorstop. Stephen Baldwin must have come very cheap, but doesn't do the worst job. The skating sequences were all blurry and slow-mo cheesy, and NOT using Johnstown, PA, instead of Vancouver, B.C. for the shooting location was more than sad. By the way, didn't the team move to Minnesota at the end of the original Slap Shot??? They could have written something hilariously funny into the second one about the Hanson Brothers going home to Minnesota. (Note to readers: Steve Carlson and Jeff Carlson were born and raised in Virginia, Minnesota. Dave Hanson was born in Wisconsin.) If the writers and producers of the original "Slap Shot" want to brainstorm for another truly funny and more accurate sequel, they should consult with fans for ideas. ($100 dollar bills raining from the sky will happen first before another sequel ever does thanks to this one.) The bottom line is that moviegoers want more of the Hanson Brothers and old-time hockey than this. It would also increase the bottom line $$$, especially if it would have a theatrical release, and not be released straight-to-video (kiss of death.)

The first and now legendary Slap Shot movie was plain excellent! It still makes me laugh each and every time I watch it! So why make a sequel over 20 years later? Well, there really isn't any good excuse...

Stephen Baldwin does an OK job as the lead character. He's no Reggie Dunlop but then again, no one is but Paul Newman. The fact that the Hanson brothers return for this sequel does help, but not enough. Former Vancouver Canucks defenseman Dave Babych is also a cool addition to the Chiefs roster.

In the end this movie is watchable, but there was never any need for this. If someone ever decides to make a third Slap Shot movie then I don't know what I'll do...

the same formula that's used for alot of poor quality sporting movies a hopeless team has to battle against the odds to get some dignity. Had a few moments where it was kinda funny but other then that it was just the same old story that holds true to the fact that most sequels aren't as good as the originals