Punk's Dead: SLC Punk 2

'PUNK'S DEAD: SLC PUNK 2': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A sequel to the 1998 cult classic 'SLC PUNK!'; once again written and directed by James Merendino. Actors Michael A. Goorjian, Devon Sawa, James Duval and Adam Pascal all reprise their roles (from the original film); as Heroin Bob, Sean, John the Mod and Eddie. Matthew Lillard (the star of 'SLC PUNK!') did not agree to return, to his most iconic role. The film also stars Ben Schnetzer, Machine Gun Kelly, Hannah Marks and Sarah Clarke (replacing Annabeth Gish, as Trish). The film tells the story of three outsider rebels, on a road trip to a punk rock show. It's definitely nowhere near as good (or as classic) as the original.

The story, this time, revolves around a 19-year-old misfit, named Ross (Schnetzer); the son of Heroine Bob (Goorjian) and Trish (Clarke). Bob died before Ross was born, but he still narrates his story; from beyond the grave. Ross just got dumped by a girl, and has decided to go on a road trip with two punk friends, Penny (Marks) and Crash (Kelly), to a punk rock show. Along the way he does drugs and alcohol, for the very first time, and his mother becomes very concerned; upon hearing about it.

The movie is extremely low-budget, and amateurish looking; which is very fitting for a movie about punks, and punk rock music. I admire the message of the film, and a lot of things the filmmakers were trying to say, but I just don't think it came together right (as a whole). The jokes are not funny, and the characters all seem like bad fake stereotypes. In a way, the movie kind of becomes what it's supposed to be fighting against. I respect it's ambition, and effort though; but it definitely doesn't live up to the original. There are some good live performance in it (from the likes of Dwarfs and Screeching Weasel), and the soundtrack is pretty cool though!

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To be honest, this movie isn't a sequel to the first film in any relatable sense. Some characters appear with the same names as some in the first film, there is some narration that happens, a goth kid goes to a punk show, gets hammered, has a revelation while getting the hell beat out of him, and end show? SLC Punk! was a surprisingly great film. This one? Not so much. The production values weren't good, the acting was uninspired, and the direction was horrible. The original was one of those films better left on its own. It was like they were pressured to make it at gunpoint and this was the post-mortem product.

This is what happens when you try to recapture lightning in a bottle while standing in a half-full kiddy pool.

This turned out like an extended version of a Boy Meets World episode with more content related to my actual life. And it's significantly less corny. But the character development is nothing compared to the original SLC which may have to do a lot to do with it being told in 3rd person. It's also a road trip film and if you read Chuck Klosterman's take on road trip films, this is spot on and the film isn't about the anything other than an interpersonal character growth/reflection. I think the punk aspect is mostly an aesthetic and not very necessary to to the overall story, unfortunately. A lot seemed forced to make this happen, and as a fan of SLC Punk, I appreciate the attempt.

I like many other misfits gravitated towards a film like SLC Punk! in the late 90's because it was a great coming of age tale. It was a movie for anyone and everyone who had ever felt like they just didn't belong, especially from a small town where most all forms of personal expression made you some kind of a pariah. So to find a film like James Merendino's original really spoke to the majority of us. It's sequel, however, falls short of delivering anything beyond a few tiny chuckles.

SLC Punk! had and continues to have a huge following, of which this sequel couldn't have even been possible without all the fan support. But like many cult classics, it's follow up is overall redundant and doesn't really go anywhere we haven't already been before. After a couple quick feelings of nostalgia for seeing some familiar faces, Punk's Dead is pretty much just a less interesting rehash of the original. The drama is absent in this one, and the important points are ignored in order to make a quick joke that no one will really be laughing about. It pretty much is the polar opposite of SLC Punk! in the worst way possible. The characters, new and old, could have easily been replaced by cardboard cutouts and it really wouldn't have made that much of a difference.

It's worth watching once to say you've seen it, but it looks and feels like a much more amateurish film that the original. It spends so much time giving us commentary on how so much has changed and frankly, there isn't much that's interesting to say about this generation. If there's something to take away from the film, it's that simply, some stories are better left untold, even if the characters have moved on and changed since then. Where they end up is just disappointing and it feels as if they just go around in circles for the entirety of this movie. As for me, I'll stick with the first film and having seen this once, I never need to watch it again.

First off let me start by saying that this holds no candle to the first one. This film is probably the worst film I have seen this year. I don't know which was more terrible, the soundtrack, the bad acting or the terrible costumes. The wigs alone looked old and cheap. This is NOT a punk movie. The acting is so bad, just as bad as Michael Goorjian's fake mohawk (which you can clearly see the line of across his forehead. BTW Bob's mohawk was never that long in the original movie, something they must have overlooked, but die hard fans of the first would never overlook. Bob did not even sound like Bob anymore. His voice was not edgy as the Bob in the original. Big fail on Michael's part. They call that a punk soundtrack? Really? It sounded like mainstream bullsht to me. When did 'punk' become mainstream? There are so many fails in this movie that I could go on for hours about, but I won't.

In my opinion, this movie should have never been made. It was horrible! The plot was horrible, the wigs were horrible, Bob was horrible, and it was a cheese fest. Avoid this movie! It is a waste of time, money, and I cannot believe they did this to what could have been something really good. I would give it zero stars if I could. Everyone in this film looked and acted like posers! No Steve-o, no film. BIG FAIL!