Baywatch
Director: Seth Gordon
Talent: 29th May
Released: Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Alexandra Daddario, Priyanka Chopra
The unexpectedly wonderful and extremely profane big-screen reboot of 80s TV show 21 Jump Street and its even better sequel were huge box office hits and since then, inevitably, Hollywood has been scrambling to repeat the success of those films using the same formula. First out of the gate was Dax Shepard’s truly execrable, morally bankrupt CHiPs, and now comes Baywatch, a particularly tricky adaptation of at best material that is outdated, and at worst, sexist and exploitative.
That the film actually manages not to leave a bad taste in your mouth is a clear indication that a good bit of thought must have gone into it, and while neither as funny nor as thrilling as the Jump Street movies, director Seth Gordon’s action comedy can still be chalked down as a success.
Taking a page out of the show’s book, the plot sees our elite life guards stumble upon a drug-smuggling operation, headed by the ruthless Victoria Leeds (Chopra), and while this aspect of the film is only serviceable, the excellent cast and some energetic direction more than make up for it. Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron are in typically good form as, respectively, team leader Mitch Buchannon and rebellious rookie Matt Brody, while female leads Alexandra Daddario, Kelly Rorhbach and Ilfenesh Hadera are an integral part of both the criminal investigation and the comedic set pieces—a gross-out trip to the morgue being a particular highlight.
Gordon handles the action with confidence and makes the most of the eye-catching Florida locations, and the only real disappointment relates to original stars David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson, whose cameos are so perfunctory and uninspired, one really wonders why they were invited back at all.
Overall, though, this is about as good as you could expect, and certainly an improvement on the source material.
Words – Felipe Deakin
