Goon in 2011 was a surprising film about an ordinary person who has the ability to throw a punch when needed in a hockey game. If you think there wasn't enough violence in the original, you'll love Goon: Last of the Enforcers.
The premise is interesting: bring back a lot of the same characters and see what happens when the career of Doug "The Thug" Glatt has come to an end.
A friend of mine noted on social media that he liked that there isn't as much Jay Baruchel in the sequel. There is a common theme to this film. A lot of the supporting characters take a back seat.
Alison Pill, who was Baruchel's real-life fiancee at the time of the original film, plays the now wife of Glatt. Unlike most of the characters, she does get more screen time though mostly acting while pregnant. Her character goes from being a sex addict in the original to being pregnant in the sequel. Goon: Last of the Enforcers has less room for female characters than the original.
The film did have some minor roles for deserving Canadian actors. Jason Jones felt well-cast as Doug's boss at the insurance company. Elisa Cuthbert, a real-life Canadian actress and a hockey wife (to Dion Phaneuf), was a treat in this film. We needed more of Cuthbert in this film instead of a relatively minor role.
We also saw more of Halifax and the Halifax Metro Centre in this film. Downtown Halifax makes for a cool background.
Returning for the sequel were Marc-André Grondin as Xavier LaFlamme. Grondin played Zac in the Jean-Marc Vallee film C.R.A.Z.Y. Kim Coates returns as Ronnie Hortense, the Highlanders coach. Callum Keith Rennie is the team owner.
Liev Schreiber is also in the sequel. This is not typical of the roles he plays. Schreiber has a much lesser role in the sequel. He has a lot of fun in his limited screen time.
The insurance material is funny. His hockey comeback is so apparent you don't even bother to check in to the plausibility section.
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Drama is created so that the Halifax Highlanders are more important due to a hockey strike. That doesn't really help the plot.
The use of T.J. Miller as the foul-mouthed buffoon in the "TSN in an alternate universe" struck as odd a chord as the use of Jim Gaffigan and Stephen Colbert as Hockey Night in Canada commentators in The Love Guru. Can't Canadians make fun of their own sports obsession without a) resorting to American actors and b) making the parody somewhat plausible?
James Duthie of the real TSN did an excellent job parodying himself. However, Duthie did spend a lot of time grimacing at what Miller was doing. The audience was in Duthie's corner.
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Goon: Last of the Enforcers makes good use of current and former hockey players Tyler Seguin, Michael Del Zotto, Brandon Prust, George Parros, Colton Orr, and Georges Laraque, who was in the original film.
I can't say I'm a fan of the work of Seann William Scott. I do make an exception for the role of Doug Glatt. I think the first film was better but honestly think Scott did better work in the sequel. He got the audience to understand Glatt much better in the sequel, and did a pretty good job in the original.
Goon: Last of the Enforcers will feel very familiar to those who watched the original film. A lot of those minor characters, especially Baruchel, made the film better. There are way fewer laughs and character observations than in the original. If you haven't seen the original film, fast forward through the fight scenes and you have a slightly above-average film. Then decide whether to see the sequel.
Goon: Last of the Enforcers is available on Netflix in the United States.
video credit: YouTube/Movieclips Trailers
photo credit: Goon: Last of the Enforcers
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