Sports. Honestly. Since 2011

Batista steals the show in Guardians of the Galaxy

I’ve only had two real obsessions in my life: Professional Wrestling and Cinema.  These subjects are quite similar and in many ways not mutually exclusive.  Pro Wrestlers have always managed to find roles on the silver screen.  Roddy Piper, Jesse Ventura, Kurt Angle, Kevin Nash, Steve Austin, and of course “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan are all names that have obtained their Screen Actors Guild Cards.  Of course, most of the roles for these wrestlers were less than blockbuster.  Hulk Hogan did manage to have some starring roles in major Hollywood releases, but the majority of those flicks were bombs that did nothing to raise the stock of professional wrestlers as professional actors.  As far as tinsel town was concerned, wrestlers were no better than your average athlete cameo.

Then Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson exploded, and everyone stopped laughing.

The Rock didn’t hit the scene and become a sensation overnight.  He had to work incredibly hard and break through ceilings previously thought unbreakable by a professional wrestler.  He started with a typical wrestler role, that of a side villain with few lines in The Mummy Returns.  He did a good enough job that Vince McMahon financed a pet project for The Rock in which he would be the lead.  He did well for a newcomer to the industry. Slowly but surely more offers came in for “The People’s Champion”, and not just your typical action cameos.  He was given starring roles in family features and comedies, all the while building his reputation as a leading man in the action genre.

Once Johnson’s movies became some of the highest grossing pictures of the year, The Rock not only became a movie mega star, but he shattered the pre-conceived notion that wrestlers couldn’t cut it in Hollywood.  He made it okay for producers and directors to cast professional wrestlers in roles that included more than looking mean and smashing things.  Now, wrestlers with natural charisma or presence could work hard and build their own names in Hollywood if given the chance.  Wrestlers like Dave Bautista.

Many folks were surprised when Batista was announced as a cast member of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, but were less surprised when he was cast as Drax the Destroyer, a hulking beast of a being with a name that presumably matched his personality. I was happy to hear that Big Dave had scored a role in such a huge movie, even if it turned out to be nothing special.  I thought he would learn a few things from the experience that he could take to other projects, and was confident that he would do a good job.  It turns out I was wrong.  Big Dave wasn’t just good in Guardians of the Galaxy, he was great!

Although Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is a really fun movie that I can’t help but recommend, what surprised me the most about it was not only how much Batista was asked to do in the film, but how well he handled it.  When it came to action, Batista easily held his own in some of the more spectacular battle scenes, but the moments that truly caught me off guard were his genuinely funny moments, utilizing a dry wit that gave his Drax the Destroyer character a likability that doesn’t usually accompany the enforcer role.  Although comedy is often what you say, your delivery can be just as important.  Batista owns the character completely and his earnest delivery is what makes you laugh.  His jokes are funny because you believe the manner in which it is delivered to be true.  It was a delightful surprise to have Dave Bautista make me laugh, but it wouldn’t be the only surprise to come along with Big Dave’s performance.

The character of Drax the Destroyer has a tragic backstory that is a huge (some would argue sole) motivation.  This is an important piece of the character and it needs to be handled with proper gravitas.  I was once again taken aback when I bore witness to Big Dave emoting at a level that did said backstory justice.  I won’t lie and say the performance brought me to tears, but you certainly felt the weight of Drax’s pain in Bautista’s performance.  You felt sympathy for a walking wrecking machine, which is no easy task.

It’s also important to understand the pressure that Bautista was under.  Although not everyone in the cast was a Hollywood A-lister, he was still working alongside some top talent.  Both Bradley Cooper and Glenn Close are Oscar nominees, and co-stars Vin Diesel and John C. Reilly both have impressive resumes.  Having to keep pace with those names must have been stressful for a guy that hadn’t really done anything of note previously.  He was the star with the least amount of experience, as well as the star with the most to prove. Bautista said in a recent interview he took extra acting lessons to prepare for the role.

Adding to the pressure was the fact that this wasn’t just any movie; this was a Marvel movie.  Marvel Studios and their film franchises had been an unstoppable monster at the box office for many years now.  Guardians of the Galaxy was a test to see if the company could put a D-List comic book title on the screen and still make dump trucks of money (Spoiler: They can!) It was a gamble to be sure, and if it came up snake eyes, it would be easy to lay some of the blame squarely on the massive shoulders of the inexperienced pro wrestler who couldn’t handle a film this big.  This movie was going to be a make or break moment for both Marvel and Dave Bautista.

What does this mean for Big Dave?  Bautista is currently pegged for a remake of Kickboxer, also featuring MMA legend Georges St-Pierre. Maybe even another run in WWE?  Batista has said that he will be back, and when he does return it will be interested to see how fans react to him now that they’ve had a chance to see him as a member of a beloved super hero team, instead of some wannabe actor there for a paycheque and a spot.

After watching Batista in Guardians of the Galaxy, it does make me wonder if things would have been different for Big Dave had this movie been released in December of last year.  Would fans have seen Batista on screen, accepted him as an emerging Hollywood star, and been more receptive to his return?  Would kids have rushed out to buy his new action figure and merchandise to stack beside their Drax toys and posters?  Would it still have been Bootista (and Bluetista), or would there have been chants of Destroyer?  Would fans have reacted so venomously to him winning the Royal Rumble and headlining Wrestlemania if they saw him the same way they see the Rock?  It’s hard to hate on someone you actually enjoy watching, even if it’s in another medium.

As with most things in life and wrestling, time will tell.  One could argue that 2014 has been the biggest year in Big Dave’s career.  He headlined what was arguably the biggest Wrestlemania of all time and then went on to star in a huge Hollywood summer blockbuster.  His future is incredibly bright and his next career moves will be important.  Whatever doors were opened by Dwayne Johnson, I hope Dave Bautista smashed off their hinges. Hollywood could use more pro wrestlers, as long as they perform like The Animal.

photo credit: MingleMediaTVNetwork via photopin cc

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