Magic Mike
(2012/Warner Blu-ray w/DVD)
Picture:
B-/C Sound: B-/C+ Extras: C+ Film: C+
Movies
about strippers tend to always be bad, save Gypsy with Natalie Wood and The
Full Monty. Otherwise, you get duds
that are over the top (Striptease),
amazingly idiotic (Showgirls) and
usually forgettable (A Night In Heaven)
so when Stephen Soderbergh teamed up to make a film with actor Channing Tatum
about his previous life as a stripper, was it going to be like a Ocean’s sequel on the side of silliness
and boredom or something more? The
result is Magic Mike (2012), a low
budget project that has made a huge amount of money and is even going to be a
Broadway musical somehow.
Tatum
plays a variant of himself (no joke intended) who is working for a smart
survivor in the business (a scene-stealing Matthew McConaughey) but looking to
find new ways to make money, knowing even he cannot do it forever but has time
left to try. He has a construction job
and one day helps a guy (Alex Pettyfer) learn how to do roofing, but thinks he
might be able to do what he is doing. One
night, he gets him to seduce some women (with his help) and get them to his
strip show that night.
That is
when he gets his new co-worker to go on stage and try out, which results in a
great crowd reaction from the ladies.
The script then jumps between well-choreographed strip scenes, limited
character development, predictability, a few bits about the business this could
have used much more of and the lead falling for the sister of the new guy with
drugs, sex, group sex and violence in between.
Needless
to say this is meant to be a crowd-pleaser as a date movie with some supposed
edge and the casting does work, but more about the supporting characters would
have made this more competitive with Full
Monty as a major motion picture overall.
Instead, this falls short and lands up not being very memorable, even
with the use of music sometimes working,
Tatum is
the #1 new box office male lead and this joins a list of hits this year
(including The Vow and the 21 Jump Street remake) where he has
become a star while the studio attempts to shove other names at us to the point
of obsession (I’ll save that for a separate essay) shows how the box-office
obsessed studios have actually killed the start system instead of letting
audiences find who they like. Tatum can
keep playing these commercial roles for a while, but later, he’ll have to take
on more substantial work to meet his full potential.
The
stripping looks and plays mostly all the same and there is not enough story for
it to justify so much of it, but we’ve seen worse and Soderbergh at least is
consistent for the secondary level in which he puts this together for maximum
commercial effect. Unless you are interested
though, you may not enjoy this one as much, so be prepared for a mixed finale.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on the Blu-ray was shot in High
Definition video that Soderbergh likes to use at this point and it is not
likely to look too much better than it does here, which includes color
purposely limited, dark shots, styling and other mixed lighting situations that
limit its performance and depth range.
There is also some motion blur, but the anamorphically enhanced DVD
version is far softer and surprisingly so.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on the Blu-ray is a bit towards the
front speakers, but surrounds do kick in for the music and some action
sequences. That makes the soundfield a
bit inconsistent, but still better than the more limited, lossy Dolby Digital
5.1 on the DVD which seems more lacking and not as warm.
Extras included
are all Blu-ray exclusives: Ultraviolet Copy, Extended Dance Scenes, Backstage On Magic Mike featurette and
Dance Play Mode.
- Nicholas Sheffo
