Magic Mike is the hero we need right now
Empire contributing editor Beth Webb on why the now-confirmed third film in the stripper series could save us all
MAGIC MIKE XXL might as well be a Marvel movie. In the energetic 2015 sequel to the original drama-comedy from director Steven Soderbergh, Channing Tatum’s hard-grafting underdog loses his stripper superpowers, and so recruits the help of his ragtag, coconut-oiled equivalent to the Avengers to help him get them back. Through it all, there’s friendshipthrough-adversity, epic action and daringly choreographed set-pieces (all scored to the Backstreet Boys’ ‘I Want It That Way’) worthy of Kevin Feige himself.
Now, it seems, the MMCU is expanding. A third film is heading to HBO Max imminently, with Tatum reuniting with Soderbergh. But for anyone doubting, it can be said with confidence that the Magic Mike franchise is about more than male entertainers.
Stripping is undoubtedly the films’ bread and butter, and Tatum’s first-hand, real-life experiences in the industry shape the story of Mike, a male entertainer with a big heart and a smart head for furniture design. Yet amidst all the waistband-snapping and hip-thrusting is a surprising ode to male friendship that is well-observed, artfully executed and, at times, disarmingly funny. As directed by Soderbergh, the original Magic Mike was a slick, tongue-in-cheek study of the American Dream forged on the sweaty stage of a Florida strip joint. XXL, meanwhile, assumed a new life as a buddy movie, and saw Mike and his old pals the Kings Of Tampa take to the road in a bid to get their groove back. The stripping itself is saved until the film’s final, athletic climax, and instead a sweet and sincere bromance that openly shows kindness between men takes up the meat of the story.
Then, of course, there’s Tatum himself. Since the first film dropped in 2012, the former dancer has risen to become Hollywood’s reliably off-kilter leading man, whose self-deprecating star-power and boyish charms make Mike impossible not to love. Cynics may fail to look past the heady mix of pecs and pop music that still populate the two films in abundance. For those looking for a hero during these dark times, however, you won’t get one that you need, nor one that you deserve, more than Magic Mike.