Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Priyanka Chopra, Jon Bass, Alexandra Daddario, Kelly Rohrbach
Director: Seth Gordon
Release date: 29th May 2017
Mitch Buchannon (Dwayne Johnson) is a very popular lifeguard, working on Emerald Bay beach. Everybody loves and respects him. The day soon comes when ‘try outs’ happen, and new Lifeguards are recruited. One of the competitors is one Matt Brody (Zac Efron), a disgraced twice US Gold medal Olympian, who comes to the beach believing that the job is automatically his. During the try outs, we meet some other key characters; Ronnie (Jon Bass), a pretty unfit guy who dreams of being a Lifeguard and has a crush on another lifeguard called CJ (Kelly Rohrbach) and then there’s Summer (Alexandra Daddario), who peaks Matt’s interest. The try outs happen and Ronnie, Matt and Summer are all chosen to be the new Lifeguards. One day, Mitch discovers a small packet of drugs washed up on the beach, and not long after, a Councilman is discovered murdered on a boat. Even though it is miles away from his remit and against orders from the local cops, Mitch decides that he is going to do whatever it takes to find out where the drugs are coming from. He and his team of misfit Lifeguards must turn detective to try and find out who is messing up their beach.
Based on the hit TV show, Baywatch, which first graced our screens in 1989 and ran til 2001, this new movie brings us an up to date new slant on the story. Starring David Hasselhoff as Mitch and Pamela Anderson as CJ Parker, the show was about Los Angeles County Lifeguards and their day to day lives patrolling the Californian beaches. Often parodied for their use of ‘slow-mo’ running, the show made household names of its cast, though David Hasselhoff was already well known for being Michael Knight in the brilliant TV series, ‘Knight Rider’. The writing team behind the new ‘Baywatch’ includes the very funny Thomas Lennon, who some people may remember for his role as Lieutenant Jim Dangle in the Reno 911! TV series.
I really enjoyed the new Baywatch movie though it did feel a little bit like it was trying a bit too hard in a couple of places. Zac Efron is ridiculously buff in this movie and Dwayne Johnson is well.. Superhuman. I’ve really grown to love him as an actor and he seems to becoming a lot more diverse with his roles of late. There’s visual gags a plenty in this movie and fans of visual comedy will no doubt get a kick out of this. Jon Bass as Ronnie almost steals the movie from Dwayne and Zach and gets a good share of the laugh out loud moments. Definitely a comedy actor to watch out for in the future.
If you’re looking for a bit of escapism and a few laughs then go see Baywatch. Definitely one for the teenage market, teenage boys especially will love this movie for both its humour and the extremely revealing swimsuits worn by the lady Lifeguards. Fans of Zach Efron won’t be disappointed, as he has his shirt off *a lot* in this movie and Dwayne Johnson has a smile that could melt the hardest heart. Not really an action movie per say, but there is a lot going on.
Overall: 8/10
