In the late 90s, a film about aimless punks in Salt Lake City during the 80s came about at a pretty perfect time. It came along when the mall-punk fad was blowing up, Blink-182 and NOFX were popular and the Warp Tour was on the verge of becoming the crass entity that built its reputation upon the ashes of a dead music scene and its ideals.
That movie was “SLC Punk.” And the way it called out what had been a fairly phony “punk” scene in the 80s was similar in the late 90s. It examined how limited a lot of the punk scene was, it basically called it out as a fashion more than a lifestyle for a lot of people. It was a decent. After hearing there was going to be a sequel, I saw that I had the DVD in my collection — unwatched for more than a decade.
Now it has a sequel coming out. It’s called “Punk’s Dead.”
I don’t know anyone who was pining for such a thing, but there must be someone out there because why else would they make it? Maybe because it’s punk rock to make another movie against all the good reasons not too.
I watched the trailer. It had some of the main characters from the first film, though I only remembered Heroin Bob by name because he died in the original and was a pretty big story arch. It appears he is a ghost — and how much more hardcore can you be than a dead punk from the 80s Salt Lake City Punk Scene? And he apparently has a kid. And it’s this kid that the film follows. Yeah.
What was glaringly missing was Matthew Lillard, who was the blue haired protagonist Stevo from the first film. A quick IMDB check reminded me that Jason Segel was in the movie too. He also doesn’t seem to be in the sequel.
So, we have a main character’s ghost and a handful of minor characters from the first film in the sequel. Because punk rock.
I might watch it. I won’t pay to watch it. I will not go out of my way to see this sequel that, like many pointless sequels before it, just does not seem necessary.
Especially since the first film pretty much rounded out the plot. Stevo moves on from a dying and pretty much dead end scene. Bob dies ironically from an overdose. The other characters, who really do not stand out much, go on with their lives. Sometimes sequels are warranted because they expand the characters, the story, ect. This is the equivalent of making “Dazed and Confused 2” or “Mallrats 2.” A sequel is not needed in these types of films.
I’d post the trailer for “Punk’s Dead,” but because of the fact is looks horrible, I leave you with this.
The JOE-DOWN 