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For hockey fans like me, it’s been a long and lonely off-season. But as another hockey season approaches, fans can start training for the camaraderie and hard hits with Jay Baruchel’s Goon: Last of the Enforcers, a hockey comedy sequel that’s quite possibly bloodier but not necessarily better than the original.
Goon: Last of the Enforcers catches up with Halifax Highlanders enforcer Doug Glatt (Seann William Scott) at the start of an important new season—his first as team captain. But after he sustains some serious injuries during a fight with league bully Anders Cain (Wyatt Russell)—and with his wife, Eva (Alison Pill), expecting their first child—Doug decides that it’s time to grow up and get a safe job in insurance. But he quickly realizes that he doesn’t belong in his safe job—and he secretly returns to the ice to train for his comeback.
With the release of the original Goon, hockey fans finally had a new sports movie to get behind—a hockey comedy that was as lovable as it was bloody. And director and co-writer Baruchel tries to recapture that hard-hitting charm with the eagerly anticipated sequel.
Just as Goon balanced out the bloodiness of the on-ice battles with a pitch-perfect performance by Seann William Scott, the sequel also relies on Scott’s gentle giant Doug to give the film its heart. Dim-witted and awkward but also sweet and fiercely loyal, Doug is the kind of guy you’d want on your side. And his determination to get back in the game for the sake of his team (and his own sanity) will give viewers something to cheer for.
Of course, if you can’t stand the sight of blood (even the fake kind)—or you believe that fighting has no place in hockey—this movie definitely isn’t for you. Baruchel takes the fighting to the most outrageous extremes—to the point that even those who watch hockey solely for the fighting may admit that it goes a little too far. And, in the end, it almost seems to shift from hockey-comedy to hockey-horror.
The writing, meanwhile, still has some shockingly funny moments, but it relies more on f-bombs and crude humor for laughs. And while Baruchel’s Pat was strangely amusing in the original, even his small role is just too much here—and the obnoxious comedy throws off the tone of the film.
If you’re anxiously awaiting the start of another hockey season, Goon: Last of the Enforcers will give you an important hockey fix while making you even more excited for the season to start. Just don’t expect it to be quite as funny and charming and gleefully hard-hitting as the original.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
