Directed by : Warren P. Sonoda
Written by : Scott Crowell and Brett Granstaff
Starring : Brett Granstaff, Lara Jean Chorostecki
Release Date: January 8, 2016
The premise for "The Masked Saint" almost sounds like a game of mad libs. A professional wrestler, who becomes a pastor, for a financially struggling Church located in a tough neighborhood, where he occasionally finds himself becoming a vigilante that fights criminals, and how this is of course based on a true story. To say the least, this is a tale that sounds like it needed to be made into a movie.
Brett Granstaff plays our main protagonist, and he is someone who you would want to root for. His family is likable, they meet some colorful sets of supporting characters, and them trying to improve their community through their Church is admirable. Sure, the movie goes into very familiar story tropes and cliches, but I'll be lying if I said that I didn't find some entertainment from it. Just the mash-up of the different story genres alone was enough to keep me invested.
It's too bad that the production value, directing, writing, editing, were just uninspiring, and very by the numbers. There are some genuinely memorable scenes, like some of the wrestling matches, a big heartwarming scene in the Church, and a whole detective vs vigilante bit, but a lot of the movie just felt generally mundane. There's a lot of big ideas that's put together here, but the movie just didn't feel big enough to matter.
Most people will probably see "The Masked Saint" just for one of the final appearances of professional wrestler Roddy Piper, and some will see it for it's Christian themes. It's not a great movie by any means, but it's a decent enough distraction, despite it's shortcomings.
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