''Legendary'' is a 2010 American

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Mel Damski Melvin Damski (born July 21, 1946 in New York, New York) is an American director and producer of film and television. Life and career Mel Damski (born in New York, New York) is an American film director and film producer. Damski has Northern Eu ...

. The film stars Devon Graye as a high school wrestler, in a cast that features

John Cena John Felix Anthony Cena ( ; born April 23, 1977) is an American part-time professional wrestler, actor, and former rapper. He is currently signed to WWE. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is tied w ...

Patricia Clarkson Patricia Davies Clarkson (born December 29, 1959) is an American actress. She has starred in numerous leading and supporting roles in a variety of films ranging from independent film features to major film studio productions. Her accolades incl ...

Danny Glover Danny Lebern Glover (; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, film director, and political activist. He is widely known for his lead role as Roger Murtaugh in the ''Lethal Weapon'' film series. He also had leading roles in his films include ...

Madeleine Martin Madeleine Elizabeth Martin (born April 15, 1993) is an American actress, known for her role as the character Rebecca "Becca" Moody on Showtime comedy-drama ''Californication''. Early life Martin grew up in New York City, United States. As her ...

, and

Tyler Posey Tyler may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tyler (name), an English name; with lists of people with the surname or given name * Tyler, the Creator (born 1991), American rap artist and producer * John Tyler, 10th president of the United ...

. The film was released on September 10, 2010.

Plot

After being bullied, book-smart (but not street-wise) teenager Cal Chetley ( Devon Graye), joins his

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

high school's

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

team, seeing it also as a way to reunite with his estranged and wayward brother, Mike (

). His mother, Sharon (

), is not initially supportive of Cal's decision, especially when she discovers that Mike is secretly coaching Cal after she gets a call from Mike Chetley's jail cell. She has been away and without contact of her older son, Mike, for over 10 years, but copes and watches yet another family male become legendary.

Cast

as Mike Chetley *

as Sharon Chetley *

as Harry "Red" Newman * Devon Graye as Cal Chetley *

as Luli Stringfellow *

as Billy Barrow * John Posey as Coach Stu Tennent * Teo Olivares as Donald Worthington * Chris Whetstone as Mac Chetley

Production

WWE Studios WWE Studios Inc. (formerly known as WWE Films) is an American film studio owned by the professional wrestling promotion WWE. WWE Studios movies frequently mix well-known actors and actresses in lead roles with WWE wrestlers, and teams with existi ...

produced the film alongside

Samuel Goldwyn Films Samuel Goldwyn Films is an American film company that licenses, releases and distributes art-house, independent and foreign films. It was founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the son of the Hollywood business magnate/mogul, Samuel Goldwyn. The curre ...

. Filming took place at Bonnabel Magnet Academy High School in

Kenner, Louisiana Kenner (historically french: Cannes-Brûlées) is a city in Louisiana, United States. It is the largest city in Jefferson Parish, and is the largest incorporated suburban city of New Orleans. The population was 66,448 at the 2020 census. History ...

in December 2009.

Music

Although no official soundtrack was released, the following songs appeared in the movie: * "Blue Jeans" performed by Glass Cow * "Crash" performed by Fit for Rivals * "Dragonfly" performed by Shaman’s Harvest * "Faith" performed by James A. Johnston & Laci Williams * "Flash Lightnin’" performed by Flash Lightnin’ * "Hard Line" performed by James A. Johnston * "Hustle, Loyalty, Respect" performed by

and

Freddie Foxxx James Campbell (born March 27, 1969), better known by his stage names Freddie Foxxx and Bumpy Knuckles, is an American rapper and music producer from Long Island, New York. Biography Foxxx got his start rapping in the early 1980s. In 1986, he ...

(Also used in the trailer) * "In the Morning" performed by Taddy Porter * "It’s Your Last Shot" performed by Politics & Assassins * "Letters from the Sky" performed by Civil Twilight * "Liar" performed by Glasgow * "One Night" performed by Golden State * "Panis Angelicus" composed by Cesar Franch * "Railroad Queen" performed by Taddy Porter * "Take Back the Fear" performed by

Hail the Villain Hail the Villain was a Canadian hard rock band from Oshawa, Ontario. The band had moderate success, and after the departure of lead vocalist Bryan Crouch, eventually went on an indefinite hiatus. History Early days and ''Population: Declining'' ...

* "The Dream" composed & orchestrated by James A. Johnston with vocals by Jonathan Estabrook * "Through Telescopes" performed by Colour Academy (Also used in the trailer) * "Undertow" performed by Beta Wolf * "We Must Start Again" performed by Golden State The orchestral score, written, and composed by James A Johnston, is available on iTunes.

Home media

The film was released on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

on September 28, 2010. The DVD is being sold exclusively at

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

and the Blu-ray exclusively at

Best Buy Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...

Reception

Critics received the film poorly. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 19% based on 43 reviews, and an average rating of 4.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Maudlin, predictable, and clichéd, ''Legendary'' pins its talented cast under a heavy layer of formulaic schmaltz." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 39 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". ''Legendary'' failed to make the top ten at the box office in its only weekend in

wide release In the American motion picture industry, a wide release (short for nationwide release) is a film playing at the same time at cinemas in most markets across the country. This is in contrast to the formerly common practice of a roadshow theatrical re ...

, finishing with $200,393 in total.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Legendary 2010 films 2010s sports drama films American sports drama films 2010s English-language films Films shot in New Orleans Sport wrestling films WWE Studios films Films directed by Mel Damski 2010 drama films 2010s American films