TOTAL DISASTER

HAVE you ever heard the expression ‘never judge a book by its cover’? That’s good advice. However, feel free to judge a movie from its box office success (and perhaps my reviews).

Hulk Hogan was one of the first professional wrestlers to venture from the ring to the big-screen and many others have followed in his giant footsteps.

The latest wrestler to have a slam at Hollywood is ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin who stars in The Stranger, a movie that was released straight-to-video in the US in 2010. This is a disastrous cross between The Bourne Identity and every haphazard action movie ever made.

Just because I’ve watched ER doesn’t mean I can be a doctor, so why do wrestlers think they can be actors?!

Austin stars as an amnesiac (known only as ‘the stranger’) who is being chased by the FBI and the Russian mafia for reasons unknown. He travels from place to place, taking on a new identity in each town but one thing remains constant, he gets into trouble.

There always seems to be some altercation that requires him to beat someone to a pulp and thus facilitate yet another move to yet another place.

He craves answers about who he is and why people are chasing him. All he knows is that he has to stay one step ahead of everyone else.

Luckily for him, he finds a friend in Dr Grace Bishop, a psychologist who has an astounding insight into his mental problems and his esoteric past. She takes it upon herself to help him make a psychological breakthrough before the FBI and the mob track him down.

Dr Bishop also has a little help from a rogue FBI agent, Mason Reese, who provides her with as much information as he can without compromising the investigation. Throughout the film his motives seem a little suspect … but that’s exactly what the director wants you to think and it comes across as contrived.

Although this is quite clearly an action film, the director has obviously tried to throw in some elements of a thriller too. For me this just doesn’t work and only serves to convolute the plot and distract from the only interesting aspect of the movie … the action.

So, how does Austin handle his role? Well, thankfully he doesn’t do much talking so there’s no need to criticise his range or delivery. Obviously he handles the action sequences very well and throws in a few wrestling moves for good measure. At one point it was so much like watching WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) I had a quick look for the referee. 

That is one of the major complaints I have about this movie, the fight scenes, (although they are well choreographed) were frankly unbelievable (not in a good way). Yes, I am capable of suspending disbelief during a film but this one pushed me to the limit.
 
I don’t care how big your muscles are … if you get beaten with a metal pole by four men you aren’t getting up and going about your day with a smile on your face. Unless, the director forgot to mention that Austin is moonlighting as Superman at the weekend.
 
The supporting cast does a passable job but there really is nothing worth bragging about. The problem is that I just don’t empathise with anyone in this film which means that I couldn’t care less about Austin’s character.

One final point about the ending of the film … it’s far too abrupt. It seems like even the director himself lost interest in the project and decided to wrap it up quickly to put everyone out of their misery.

My favourite part of this film was when it ended.

Showing in Cineco, Seef II and Saar Cineplex