By Drew Dietsch
| Published
I recently reviewed Happy Gilmore 2 and I talked about the requel, a term for movies that are a sequel but really act as a reboot or soft remake of an original film. Not only did Happy Gilmore 2 fall into this category, but it also contained another aspect of legacy sequels that is becoming depressing: the wheeling out of older actors to dress up as recognized characters.
Then, I saw the trailer for Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, and I decided to coin a term: the retirement requel.
No Shade Towards the Actors
Let me get one thing out of the way first before people get mad: I’m not against older actors getting work at all. I know that it can get much harder for actors to get work as they age. I’m glad these kinds of projects get them gigs, but I’d much rather they be able to produce original projects instead of relying on so much nostalgia. I also wish the studio system was more welcoming of older actors in more prominent and consistent roles, so I recognize it’s a systemic issue and not the fault of the actors.
So none of what I’m about to criticize has to do with these actors taking these jobs, got it?
Sadder Legacies
When Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire came out, I saw some scenes with the old cast and it didn’t have the intended effect on me. Instead of filling me with cheer for the return of these beloved characters, it just made me sad to see them have to still play this particular dressup decades later to keep their bank account flush. The same for Harrison Ford and John Rhys-Davies Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
The retirement requel mentality leaves the potential for a less dignified legacy for so many of these projects. And that is where my real trepidation comes in after watching that trailer for Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.
Same Old Song and Dance
If this trailer is representative of the finished cut of Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, it portends a pale imitation of a comedy that still knocks it out of the park over four decades later. It just feels like a shoddy excuse to get this troupe back together again for a lazy retread instead of a strong creative endeavor.
As capitalism continues its bloat towards explosion, we are going to see many of our recognizable stories and performers put back in the meat grinder. And more often than not, it’s going to churn out some rotten beef that people puke up. Take The Exorcist: Believer and its usage of Ellen Burstyn as another retirement requel example, and see how audiences barfed that back at the screen. It was so repugnant that it killed a plan trilogy of films!
So, maybe there is hope that audiences will start to recognize the faults of the retirement requel more and more as their tropes become familiar. I want to see these older actors on the screen, but not if it means doing a half-ass cosplay of a role I loved them in years and years ago.
