Plot: What’s it about?
When it comes to movies about hockey, the palette is a bit limited. I mean, let’s face it, I’m racking my brain and the only ones I can think of are Happy Gilmore (and even that’s more of a golf movie), The Mighty Ducks, Youngblood and the granddaddy of them all – Slap Shot. Yes, while hockey is technically a “top 4” sport in the United States, it’s far behind the other sports when it comes to film. And Goon embodies everything the layman thinks when they think of hockey: blood, missing teeth and people who haven’t seen a razor in several days. There are more glorious sports out there. But Goon, like all good sports movies, tells the story of a sport while being entertaining (if not downright vulgar) at the same time. Written by Jay Buruchel (star of How to Train your Dragon and She’s Out of My League), we get a rather in-depth look at the red-headed stepchild of professional sports. Let’s hit the ice and see what Goon is all about.
Meet Doug Glatt (Seann William Scott), he’s not exactly following in his brother and father’s footsteps. They’re both Ivy League graduates and physicians. Doug’s a bouncer. Together with his loud-mouthed friend, Ryan (Jay Baruchel who also wrote and produced the film) they host a show called “Hot Ice.” Ryan fires up a player at a game who then charges into the stands. Doug takes him out with a few blows and catches the eye of a coach. Doug’s now a hockey player. Well, scratch that, he’s a “goon”, someone who enforces things in a physical manner on the ice. The thing is that Doug’s a genuinely nice guy, but his loyalty to the team is admirable and he does his job well. As Doug’s star rises, we know that he’ll eventually have to face league tough guy Ross Rhea (Liev Shrieber) – the grizzled veteran who’s in the midst of his last year on the ice. Doug’s also pursuing Eva (Allison Pill), the local hockey roadie who loves any man on the ice (literally). Will Doug be able to excel at his game, please his friends and family and be true to himself?
Goon is one of those movies that I’d heard about, but never really had a chance to go out and see. I’ll say that in the realm of hockey movies, it’s about the best one since Slap Shot simply because it’s so realistic. While I think the language is a bit on the rough side, I’m a former hockey player and will say that it’s about par for the course. Seann William Scott, a native of Minnesota, was the perfect choice to play the lead and Schrieber rocked the hockey mullet and accent to a tee. Truthfully it might not get more realistic than this when it comes to hockey. What really defines a sports movie as “good” is that it manages to present the material and also have a solid film to back it up. Goon does this and I believe does it very well. While this might not be up everyone’s alley, I’ll take this any day of the week over most other sports movies.
Video: How does it look?
Ironically enough I was watching the Stanley Cup Finals a couple nights ago. While a movie and a live sporting event will be a bit different visually, I’ll say that Goon looked pretty darn good. The 1.78:1 AVC HD image looks crisp and sharp throughout. Detail is what really impressed me seeing the blood stains, the skate marks on the ice or the perpetual beard growth of Sean William Scott’s character. Some of the uniforms are extremely colorful and in contrast with the starkness of the ice, look very good. Truthfully, there’s not a lot wrong with this transfer save for a few minor blemishes towards the beginning. A good effort.
Audio: How does it sound?
The DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack is also nothing to take lightly. Granted there’s a preponderance of the “F” word, but as I remarked in my review – this is hockey we’re talking about folks! Vocals seem to be strong and clear and as I said, Liev Schrieber seems to have nailed the Canadian accent to a tee (eh). There’s a lot of “shoosh-ing” in regard to the skate sounds, some background ambiance is always present as well. While the majority of the action takes place in the front stage, it’s a decent soundtrack and one that’s indicative of a new to Blu-ray film.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The disc is surprisingly loaded with supplements, which is good when it’s a likable film such as this. We start off with an audio commentary by director Michael Dowse and writer/actor/producer Jay Baruchel. This is a vulgar track that’s more of the same that we find in the film. It’s interesting and entertaining, but yet loaded with little tidbits about the film. The disc can be played in “Power Play Mode” which has some clickable icons throughout that will lead you to some of the same included featurettes found on the disc. We’ve got half a dozen deleted scenes, some bloopers and outtakes and some audition tapes as well. There’s a pretty interesting interview with Seann William Scott and Jay Baruchel that covers the bases of the film as well as a brief segment on how to fight. We get some fake hockey cards as well as the original green and redband trailers.
