MAGIC MIKE XXL Review – Pelvic Sorcery
Here’s my Magic Mike XXL review; it stars Channing Tatum, Matt Bomer, Kevin Nash and Joe Manganiello. Opens today from Warner Bros. Pictures Philippines.
The original stars joining Tatum in the sequel are Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Kevin Nash, Adam Rodriguez and Gabriel Iglesias. Featured in brand new roles are Elizabeth Banks, Donald Glover, Amber Heard, Andie MacDowell, Jada Pinkett Smith and Michael Strahan.
The new film is directed and produced by Emmy Award winner Gregory Jacobs (“Behind the Candelabra”), who served as a producer on “Magic Mike,” as well as numerous features in a long-running collaboration with Steven Soderbergh.
Picking up the story three years after Mike bowed out of the stripper life at the top of his game, “Magic Mike XXL” finds the remaining Kings of Tampa likewise ready to throw in the towel. But they want to do it their way: burning down the house in one last blow-out performance in Myrtle Beach, and with legendary headliner Magic Mike sharing the spotlight with them. On the road to their final show, with whistle stops in Jacksonville and Savannah to renew old acquaintances and make new friends, Mike and the guys learn some new moves and shake off the past in surprising ways.
So okay, here’s what I thought of the movie.
I thought Magic Mike XXL was an “OK” movie considering that it’s a male stripper movie. It had a great cast and obviously working on a bigger budget but there were some elements that were missing and you could feel that they were missing.
Plot-wise, there’s barely a plot; I was fine with that and so should you because this ain’t designed to make you think. This is fanservice right here. I’m talking about making the ladies go “ga-ga” over abs and sausages. Those two things. So while there’s hardly a plot here other than the “Kings of Tampa” doing a “one last run” kind of trope, there are still diamonds-in-the-rough here. I’m sure you girls are going to like the various character beats this film has such as Manganiello’s “glass slipper” arc or Matt Bomer’s “healer” phase. There’s plenty for every girl in the audience.
But that’s deduction number one; NO RESOLUTION AT ALL! It’s like after the big climax (no pun intended), they decided to just “fuck resolution” and just end the movie with a “whimper” instead of a bang.
Deduction number two comes from the fact that there are essentials absent. Director Steven Soderbergh is absent from the sequel opting to do executive producer duties instead. I think that hurt the movie a bit although the major pain came from Matthew McConaughey’s departure. No Dallas means no emcee and no “spice”. Sure we get a suitable replacement in Fish Moonie Jada Pinkett Smith’s Rome but the “pelvic sorcery” is incomplete without the Interstellar star.
A half deduction for the film trying to be funny and it ending up in a “hit or miss” situation. I can definitely assure you though that one of the funniest moments in the film doesn’t come from Tatum but rather from Joe Manganiello. I won’t spoil but I thought it was crazy.
Still there are a couple of redeeming factors for ‘Mike’. We get to see the world of male entertainers in a different light; we also get to see how hot Elizabeth Banks is when she’s not looking like a dork in the Hunger Games movies and the film is a good “fitspiration’ film; I mean look at those abs man, any grown man would be put to shame with those cuts.
So far, for this Magic Mike XXL review I’ll say that the film is decent to good. It’s eye-candy for the females and gay guys and it’s definitely going to be THE movie that your wife or your girlfriend will plead and prod you to watch with. Don’t fight it, just enjoy it bro.
VERDICT: 8/10.
Opening across the Philippines on July 08, 2015, “Magic Mike XXL” will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company.
