This Summer, Dive Into The Fun And The Action With The Baywatch Movie

If you were ever a fan of the hugely-popular TV show, then the, ahem, premise, needs not explaining. But just in case you spent the 90's living on the Moon, then here it is - at least in its primitive form before all the spin-offs and direct-to-video movies came along: It's a drama about a lifeguard crew that works the beaches of Los Angeles, with a little action thrown in here and there for good measure. That pretty much sums it up. But let's face it; it was only a matter of time before it received the inevitable Hollywood-makeover.

Naturally, Baywatch 2017 refuses to wipe the surf completely clean and reprises classic characters from its TV counterpart. There's Mitch Buchanan (Dwayne The Rock Johnson), Matt Brody (Zac Efron) and C. J. Parker (Kelly Rohrbach), formerly played by David The Hoff Hasselhoff, David Charvet and Pamela Anderson, respectively. And while there are some obligatory and expected cameos - with same names as before  - it's difficult to tell whether the film is actually a reboot or a sequel. The refreshing thing is that it doesn't really matter. 

They'll be there...

Following the self-aware style of the 21 Jump Street movies (notably also once a TV show), Baywatch isn't afraid to poke plenty of fun at itself, cashing in on the likely-accidental ludicrousness that made the original show a household name back in the day and doing away with the Hallmark-esque romance and drama. Now there are plenty of side-splitting jokes on cleavage-sporting women running in slow-mo and why the lifeguards at Baywatch take it upon themselves to fight crime and go undercover, with the film naturally opting for an R-rating to appeal to modern audiences. But despite how it may appear on the surface, it's less a deliberate parody of its former-self and more a fun celebration of the show.

Action-(six)packed, laugh-out-loud and with an adrenalin-soaked soundtrack, the film injects some much-needed guilty pleasure back into cinema. But ultimately, it's the outlandishness that makes Baywatch what it is - and what it always has been. It isn't without a little humanity either, with Johnson and Efron not only on top-form (both theatrically and physically, that is), but the chemistry between them is solid and brings with it an emphasis on teamwork and family that's not quite as in-your-face as the Fast & Furious movies. Just remember to take it all with a pinch of seasalt. And trust me - if there's a sequel, I'll be there. 

http://www.thebaywatchmovie.com/