To say that our relationship to the work of Franck Gastambide is complicated is an understatement. All our sympathy for the guy aside, he convinced us as much by the quality of his two seasons of Valid, that we cannot forgive him Taxi 5 or Medellin (Pattaya made us laugh, sorry). As if the actor, director, screenwriter and trainer were expressing his talent on long dramatic formats than on comedy feature films. A hypothesis that only needed to be confirmed with The Cageits second series, this time for Netflix.
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To say that our relationship with Netflix productions is complicated is an understatement. The Price of our subscription to the platform aside, it surprised us as much by the quality of certain series like Arcane, that we cannot forgive him Werewolves, Furies and the list goes on. As if the SVoD service invested more of its money in generic content intended to simply expand its catalog than in original projects. A hypothesis – which is not really one, we know the answer – which only needed to be confirmed or refuted with The Cageseries headed by Franck Gastambide.
Taylor (Melvin Boomer) is a young amateur fighter who dreams of joining the ranks of the UFC, the most prestigious mixed martial arts organization. But the road is long and he has no time to lose. When a golden opportunity presents itself to him, he decides to take a enormous risk against the advice of his new coachBoss (Franck Gastambide). Suddenly, he finds himself propelled into the light.
Rocky Balbo-mâle
Gastambide has never hidden his love for the saga Rocky. He does well to approach the problem head-on during a short sequence which names the inspiration as much The Cage presents itself as a medley of the franchise carried by Sylvester Stallone, Creed Understood. The thing is almost amusing when we see that five screenwriters worked on the five episodes of the show and that all these little people combined cannot find a more original story than that of the outsider promised a mediocre career who is offered a golden ticket. The series literally ticks all the boxes of its modelthe famous training montage as a bonus.
Sorry to get in the ring and punch straight, but yeah, The Cage does not shine at any time with his writing. The characters are condensed clichés played by actors who do not seek nuance. We can even reduce the whole picture to one main characteristic. We thus find the choleric (the truly evil villain), the jealous, the enthusiastic, the tortured, the wise; without forgetting the two female figures unfortunately confined to the role of mop. The show sets its scene, we are in a story of men and fights and here how do we treat a human trauma? By fighting. Subtlety called, she is enjoying her vacation.
Obviously, such a deluge of stereotypes prevents the story from taking unexpected branches and we start on a festival of big strings that you can see coming from miles away. And if the twist doesn’t take, it’s not because it has never been seen elsewhere (although, that doesn’t help), but because we took great care to prepare it and we underline this since previous episodes. However, contrary to what the box office of Taxi 5ici ridicule does not kill.
The MMA Crazy Cage
For what ? Because despite a scenario as original as a drunk flirt, The Cage is a nice surprise (unlike the drunk flirt). Simply because she succeeds in what is really asked of her, her subject. MMA (mixed martial arts) is not the sport most suited to the screen despite some good attempts like Kingdom and in the same way as Valid had been able to highlight the rap world, the Netflix series knows what it adapts and shows it the appropriate respect.
Far from making combat sport a pretext for violence (la bagaaaarre), The Cage treats it with deference by advocating its institutions – the UFC is the Holy Grail of every fighter – and by sharing its values. It’s not just a question of blood and blows, but of mentality, of how to treat the opponent, of training, of lifestyle. In this sense, the series has the not-so-concealed objective of change our outlook on this sport by highlighting what motivates its practitioners. No, no shot is free. If Rocky can be seen as the model of the boxing film, The Cage presents itself as the temple of MMA.
And to show that Gastambide knows what he is adapting, he pulls out all the stops by making himself endorsed by the biggest names. For any fan, the series is a festival of five-star appearances and each one has its role to play in Taylor’s fate. Old and new generations of champions give their vision of MMA through practice or advice, giving the show an undeniable aura. The director signed a sort d’Avengers from disciplines.
There was therefore no question of the tribute stopping at the gate and Gastambide handled the camera with the nervousness of a real fight and the fluidity of a beautiful show. The pace of the five episodes holds up well and we take real pleasure in seeing the fighters exchange pleasantries in the ring. We feel all the intensity, the power of the blows and the dangerousness of this sport and we understand in the blink of an eye what makes it so popular.
Therefore, The Cage lives up to its name because she is the center of attention. It is the only setting where destinies are created, careers unfortunately end, animosities are resolved, men search for themselves and find themselves or not. A place that vampirizes everything to the point of making the rest of the story incidental at best, and derisory at worst. It doesn’t matter if we make fun of the plot or the characters, because in the cage, it’s no longer funny.
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