More surprises than a submission hold, this film’s a winner. Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson was inspired by the struggle of a young female who became a pro wrestling champion, because it reminded him of his own family.
Johnson saw a documentary about Saraya Knight and her family from the little town of Norwich, England on the Telly in London 7 years ago while he was there shooting Fast and Furious 6. Known as Paige in the wrestling world, she beat the odds and a ton of obstacles to become a headliner at the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). He gives her credit for leading the revolution for women wrestling professionally. The Rock was fascinated by her story and so are we. One of Al’s first jobs was as a Wrestling announcer and curator of Chicago’s Wrestling Hall of Fame. But that’s not the reason we like this film.
We did not expect the Knight family dynamic to be such an emotional journey. It reveals truth in the make-believe world of Pro Wrestling. Writer/Director Stephen Merchant (The Office, Logan) pulls back the curtain about the people who are passionate about the sport and humanizes the cartoonish characters in that world. This film deals with family, determination, dreams, and disappointment. He shows how dedicated they are to the training as well as the pain, not necessarily to win, but to just keep going!
There is so much that happens in, and outside of the ring. Great camera work by Remi Adefarasin follows the moves of these new, young, pro wrestlers. Angles make the difference and they help make the hits hit hard. They gave editor Nancy Richardson (Divergent, Carrie, Repo Man) a lot to work with. Dwayne Johnson is Executive producer and this film gives him the chance to go back to his roots as “The Rock.” He sets the stage with a raucous opening speech harkening back to his days as the hugely popular pro wrestler.
Saraya is played fearlessly by Florence Pugh (King Lear, Lady Macbeth) in a very against-type role for a Shakespearean actress. Dyed black hair and piercings make her look tough and punk. She and her brother, Zak (Jack Lowden – Mary Queen of Scots, Dunkirk) train kids to wrestle at the family gym. Dad, Ricky, is a piece of work played by the talented Nick Frost (The World’s End, Snow White and the Huntsman, Shaun of theDead). Ricky’s a reformed petty criminal who did prison time in his youth. Glad he found a loving wife in Julia (Lena Heady-Game of Thrones). She is also a character, with flaming magenta hair and piercings. One strong lady, this matriarch keeps him in line and is the strong voice of family values.
Zak desperately wants to go pro. Saraya had been working toward her shot since she was a little kid. Both are given the chance to try out for NXT, WWE’s ultimate showcase for new talent . She is tapped. Zak is not, leading to huge sibling resentment. He’s got a girlfriend and a baby on the way. The conversation at the dinner table, when the two very different families meet over Chinese takeout, is pure entertaining Merchant comedy.
The family’s sendoff from the airport, minus the resentful Zak, is visual and heartbreaking. Apprehension reigns on both sides with planes taking off through the window, symbolic of the big break for this young woman’s independence and her chance to soar. But not so fast.
Credit to Director Merchant for getting inside these characters’ heads. they bounce back and forth between the sister and brother showing parallel disappointment, fear, and pain when, for the first time, they are not there to support each other. Will their relationship survive?
Vince Vaughn plays Hutch, the mean trainer there to toughen his WWE wannabes by pushing them to the limit. Vaughn does ok intimidating Paige. He’s supposed to be totally void of emotion, but Vaughn is just not crusty enough. He gives us his whole backstory in a phone call with Zak. It didn’t resonate as strongly as we expected. It was hard to get invested in his character.
Paige tries to keep up with the pretty model types who look better and perform stronger. You wouldn’t want to tangle with any of them. Do they have the chops? All of the actresses trained hard and did their own stunts earning bumps and bruises to prove it. You’ll cringe at how hard they hit when they pummel and toss each other around the ring like rag dolls.
Zak, is back home, still working at his craft, intercut with scenes of Paige struggling, physically and emotionally, in the States. Zak in a match hitting the mat covered with tacks may be one of the hardest scenes to take. Watching him extract them even worse. But there is good transition in a scene going from one to the other showing Paige having a hard time pushing tractor tires over in sand, then dissolving to Zak with his wife pushing hard to deliver their baby. That worked.
It all builds to Paige getting her shot at taking away the championship belt in front of 20,000 screaming fans in the loud, glare of the real-deal WWE event. We’ve been there. It’s sports and soap opera combined in a big noisy and glitzy show. Will Paige have what it takes to win over the crowd?
The big take away throughout the film is that you can’t tell a book by its cover. There are funny, sad and heartwarming moments from four characters you might never think could be a loving family. But this film proves they’re a great team. This is a real Paige-turner.
MGM 1 hour 17 minutes PG-13
