September 16, 2017 | Awake & Dreaming

Baywatch is a 2017 American action comedy film directed by Seth Gordon and based on the television series of the same name. Written by Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, the film stars Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Priyanka Chopra, Alexandra Daddario, Kelly Rohrbach and Jon Bass. The plot follows lifeguard Mitch Buchannon and his team, who in an effort to save their beach have to take down a druglord.

Ok, so this is a basically a kind of reboot of the Baywatch show with the same character names but totally different characters. Dwayne Johnson is Mitch Buchanan, a muscle bound LT in the lifeguard section that protects the beach and the people who visit and swim there. He is not the same Mitch but there is another Mitch (with a brief cameo by David Hassellhoff) who was this Mitch’s mentor. Basically the character is The Rock in red! Zac Effron plays Matt Brody, a former Olympic gold medal swimmer who fell from grace to grass after vomiting during a relay race and now has to perform community service as part of an unspecified plea deal. Brody is an attitude laden, smug and arrogant but he has a point to prove. His initial interactions with the rest of the lifeguards do not go well but he is given another chance by Mitch.

We have second-in-commmand Stephanie Holden (Ilfenesh Hadera) and veteran C. J. Parker (Kelly Rohrbach), and joining them are the three new recruits – surfer Summer Quinn (Alexandra Daddario), an old friend of Holden’s, Ronnie (Jon Bass), a chubby nerd with a crush on C. J. (that is gradually returned), and Brody. These guys also think that other than just “saving lives” they should also be the law and investigate murders and drug smuggling! The villain is played by Priyanka Chopra as Victoria Leeds! First of all, her accent has improved but not by much. Second of all, I was so satisfied when she got blown away (since I cannot stand Little Miss Faker). She is a wealthy businesswoman who is smuggling in drugs and will go to any lengths to get what she wants.

The movie has a few laughs but the gross teenager aimed dick jokes and vomit jokes is getting lame when you have 40-plus lead actor and Effron is 29 now. The acting is barely there, the plot simple and they are trying too hard for the laughs. The cliched reasons why Brody changes his ways and becomes part of the team or “family” is so outdated. It’s a half-hearted attempt to bring the franchise to the big screen. Props for getting two small cameos by Hassellhoff and Pamela Anderson. I give the film a 6.5 outta 10!

I just cannot be more excited for a tv show to start airing. In a few days Star Trek Discovery, the 6th live action Star Trek series and 7th overall (if you count The Animated Series) will air the pilot episode. But it won’t be on a tv channel ofcourse. It will be available for streaming on CBS All Access in the US and Netflix in some countries. India will have to wait and see – we might get it on Netflix though I don’t see it in the upcoming shows list.

I don’t care about the new uniforms – they look good and uniforms can change every few years if needed. I don’t care if there is supposed to be conflict among the crew members – that makes for good television and yes Star Trek has had some conflict amongst the Starfleet crew before. I got over the change in appearances for the Klingons – whatever I have heard and read about them is enough to satisfy me! Fuck any racist asshole who complains about diversity – this Trekkie is Indian! And Star Trek has always been about diversity and inclusion. The look and design of the technology involved in the show – yes it looks more like the Kelvin-verse but the upgrade in design is the least of my concerns as Star Trek TOS was made 51 years ago.

I like some of the cast though I feel they could have tried out for more know actors in some of the other roles. But nevermind; just having Sonequa Martin-Green, Michelle Yeoh (though she is supposed to be a recurring character or gets killed in or just post the pilot episode) & Doug Jones is awesome! Plus we also get Rekha Sharma in a recurring role as well as Kenneth Mitchell. You also have Rainn Wilson & Jason Issacs, two well known names but who I have only seen in one movie each. A big bonus in the casting is Indian origin actors; other than Sharma we have Maulik Pancholy as well.

So forget about the bad publicity, the delays, the negativity surrounding the show. Forget about the idiots who don’t like that there are two main characters shown in the trailers both of whom are women of colour, forget the Klingon controversy and let’s check out the show. We need more Star Trek in our lives and this is the Prime Timeline Star Trek. May it live long and prosper and who knows; the start of more shows to come. Beam me up!

I plan to post a blog about each episode of the show.