hockeyvoodoo Review of Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice

Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice (2002 Video)

Not even the Hanson Brothers could save this one............

[3/10 · 8 June 2006]

The script for Slap Shot 2-Breaking the Ice should have been thoroughly reviewed over and over with a fine-tooth comb before they started filming. It was up against the awesome classic original and the writers and producers knew very well that fans of the original Slap Shot were just thirsting for a really funny and good follow up if one was going to be made at all. A control group of viewers who saw the original back in 1977 at the theater should have been consulted (Me, for one.) I'm only giving this movie a generous 3 stars out of 10, one for each of the Hanson Brothers. They deserved better than this. The message of hockey becoming too antiseptic and "entertainment" instead of sport was lost in the mess. I did NOT like the "hockey chick" thing with Jessica Steen playing the new female coach, and she had the personality of a doorstop. Stephen Baldwin must have come very cheap, but doesn't do the worst job. The skating sequences were all blurry and slow-mo cheesy, and NOT using Johnstown, PA, instead of Vancouver, B.C. for the shooting location was more than sad. By the way, didn't the team move to Minnesota at the end of the original Slap Shot??? They could have written something hilariously funny into the second one about the Hanson Brothers going home to Minnesota. (Note to readers: Steve Carlson and Jeff Carlson were born and raised in Virginia, Minnesota. Dave Hanson was born in Wisconsin.) If the writers and producers of the original "Slap Shot" want to brainstorm for another truly funny and more accurate sequel, they should consult with fans for ideas. ($100 dollar bills raining from the sky will happen first before another sequel ever does thanks to this one.) The bottom line is that moviegoers want more of the Hanson Brothers and old-time hockey than this. It would also increase the bottom line $$$, especially if it would have a theatrical release, and not be released straight-to-video (kiss of death.)