christian562

After about 20 years of having little more than vague memories of this movie rollerskating about in my head, I finally broke down and re-watched Solarbabies.

All I can say is, well, bless them for trying. It really isn't a BAD movie... it does manage to be entertaining even though it occasionally drags. The only problem is that it borrows a lot from other movies and never seems to decide on a style of its own.

Overall I didn't feel as drawn in to the story as I'd hoped, but despite the somewhat vague plot and generic characters, it was still good fun. And if nothing else, it teaches us that all we really need to set things right in the world are friendship and roller skating. And maybe a magic ball from outer space.

This is one movie that I feel couldn't have told its story any better. A lot of that had to do with Mickey Rourke's performance. Maybe the rest was its simplicity and choice of subject. Sure, this same kind of story has already been done about a million times with boxing, or baseball, or football, or some other high profile competition where the star has outlived his prime. But professional wrestling is an underdog. It is often dismissed and ridiculed, even though its just as physically demanding and damaging as any other high contact sport.

Thus it stings a little more when we see the painful lengths Randy goes to in order to put on a show for the half-empty crowd, and the toll it takes on his body. It hurts even more as he struggles awkwardly with his personal life. He's a very flawed and human character, a generally likable guy who has taken a LOT of lumps in his life. And not all of them deserved. To Rourke's credit I often forgot I was watching an actor, and honestly I'm not really sure he WAS acting as much as giving us a look inside his head. Either way it worked.

There is always that one athlete or performer who you used to admire... "Remember what's his name? Yeah, THAT guy. I wonder what happened to him?" The Wrestler could very well be that guy.

This movie promised us an all-star cast of our favorite action heroes doing what they do best, and it delivers. I went in ready to see a dumb but enjoyable movie and was pleasantly surprised... while the plot is nothing to marvel at, it does manage to summon enough depth and humanity to sustain the action and characters. If anything, the story could be seen to parallel the sort of 'mid-life crisis' that many of these aging action stars must be facing in one form or another.

The action is well done, though (of course) its often over the top and occasionally suffers from shaky-cam syndrome. Overall its entertaining but really nothing we haven't seen before. What makes the movie worthwhile are the interactions and quips between Stallone, Statham, Li, and the rest... this is what makes The Expendables fun and destined to eventually take up a spot in your DVD collection.