The Unthinkable

This is very weird.. I'm going to recommend a Patrick Swayze movie (Shock! Horreur!).

You know Swayze... an actor carved from Solid Teak. Remember Point Break? With Keanu? It was like watching two redwood trees in the forest, wearing dead president masks, shooting at each other.

And Ghost... god help us. Actually, Swayze at times looked animated in comparison to Demi Moore, an actress who was also apparently petrified in eons past. Ghost, along with Cocktail, is the nadir of Hollywood film-making.

And Dirty Dancing... oh, but you say, "I LOVED Dirty Dancing". Well it sucked too. You really only like the last scene. Admit it. Because Swayze is an accomplished dancer. Dance, it would seem, is his medium. Not acting.

So on a punt & against my better judgement, I rented something called One Last Dance. And you know what? It was pretty good. Especially if you enjoy watching accomplished dancers do what they do best.

It's the story of 3 aging, and former star dancers who reunite to perform the last & unperformed dance of their now deceased legendary choreographer & mentor (and bastard, as revealed in flashbacks). The piece was written for them years ago, but was so difficult, they never mastered it, fell out, then went their separate ways.

Swayze co-stars with his real life wife, Lisa Niemi, and some guy called George de la Pena (who looks like that guy from Shortland Street years ago, whose name I can't remember). Niemi & de la Pena are absolutely terrific, whether acting or dancing. Swayze's pretty good, better in the dance scenes, but does have one speech where he almost looks conscious.

the movie is chock full of fantastic dance sequences, mostly performed by the younger members of the dance troupe. But the climax, when the piece is finally performed... is just magnificent. Big ups to Swayze, Niemi & de la Pena, who clearly all past their prime, must have rehearsed for months to bring off this very difficult (to my untrained eyes) choreography.

Check it out.