Without it, the irony just goes over your head, the film loses that comedic relief and wallows in its own darkness. Grant's use of Gelman's narration works because of the satirical tone. His snarky narration points out various nautical superstitions and gives the character backstories that explain the trio's dynamic.

Harpoon uses Brett Gelman as narrative glue, ensuring that the film's tone doesn't miss a beat. Grant does well exposing each character's transgressions, all the while shifting our sympathy from one character to the next.Īre you there God? It's me, Harpoon.Finding a tonal balance can be difficult when more than one genre is present there's a fine line to avoid teetering too heavily into one sector. Harpoon is a character-driven film and it's both the depth of and portrayal of these characters that keeps the film afloat. The first time we see the trio together is when Richard is beating Jonah to a pulp, believing he has slept with Sasha. It also doesn't take long for viewers to grasp the toxicity of the friendship displayed. Within seconds, you know Harpoon's central focus: the deterioration of a friendship with history.

You are friends with a person simply because you have always been friends. The narrator then suggests a fourth type of friendship, one founded upon history. You're my boy, Blue! Harpoon opens with a shot of a yacht and the word 'SOS' written on it, while the narrator explains Aristotle's philosophy of three types of friendship. Rob Grant wrote and directed the 2019 feature. Psychosis sets in as they all begin to physically and mentally wilt, weakening their long-time friendship in the process. Once at sea, the trio finds themselves stranded with no food, water or radio for help. The boys are best friends and after a nasty fight, Richard offers a day trip on his yacht. Hey, that’s Hollywood.Harpoon is a film about three friends: 'sad sack' Jonah, 'rich asshole' Richard, and 'peacemaker' Sasha. The end result was nearly flawless – a car door ripped right off of its hinges, albeit without the use of a harpoon. However, Hollywood is a land of smoke and mirrors, so Bell did some cutting and grinding, used a flat steel plate to brace the inside of the door, and let it rip. It seems a lot more likely to just rip the door skin off than to snap hinges, and that’s pretty much what Bell experienced. This might not come as a huge shock to anyone who’s watched footage of side-impact crash tests, but modern door latches and hinges are really strong. Jam a harpoon in a hole, put it on a cable, run the cable through a snatch block, hitch the other end of the cable to a car, and then let it rip. Considering the test door was from an older vehicle, I’d wager that thinner sheetmetal and voids in modern door structures played a role here.Īlright, Bell has blasted some holes, it’s time for part two of the blockbuster stunt. Oh, and when I say blowing holes through the doors, they’re absolutely massive and don’t seem to slow the speed of the harpoons like the earlier small-scale test door. Blowing holes in those doors isn’t a huge loss by any means. While the early Mazda CX-7 used for the experiment does look fairly nice, it’s still an early Mazda CX-7, a horrifically unreliable heap that was towed into the shot.

Harpoon movie