The Legend of Baron To’a: Fun Kiwi Dramedy-Slash-Throwdown Offers Blood-Free Charms
By Liam Lacey
Rating: B+
Confidently punching above its weight, The Legend of Baron Ta’o is a low-budget action-comedy with no stars, a first-time director (Kiel McNaughton), and is set almost entirely within a Tongan ethnic community in a New Zealand suburban cul-de-sac known as “the Sac.”
In its corner, Baron offers the often-entertaining prospect of watching extremely large men beat each other up in acrobatic ways. The recent winner of the dramatic feature award at Toronto-based imagiNative Film and Media Arts Festival, it has a crowd appeal familiar to WWE fans, but some snappy dialogue from screenwriter John Argall and a family-friendly message to accompany the cracking bones.
The story follows Fritz (Uli Latukefu), the handsome, educated entrepreneur son of a superstar Polynesian wrestler, Baron Ta’o (John Tui). Fritz has come home from Australia to his old neighbourhood to sell his late father’s house to finance his new start-up. But his Uncle Otto (Nathaniel Lees), who resides in the family home, refuses to sell the house until the Baron’s prize belt has been recovered from a local gang.
The gang, the Pig Hunters, are a group of marital arts enthusiasts, who appear in a pecking order of ascending sizes from significantly large to mega-jumbo. They drink and play pool and fight at their clubhouse called “It’s All Hood.”
The rest of the time they strip cars (with the passengers still in them), serve as a terrible role model for the kids, and depress local real estate values. Some of the junior-league, would-be Pig Hunters keep borrowing Uncle Otto’s lawnmower without asking.
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They are unhindered by the sleazy local cop, Officer Wayne (Xavier Horan) who occupies himself with harassing Uncle Otto’s single mom neighbour Renee (Savaughan Ruakere), who cautiously becomes Fitz’s ally.
Among the many, many characters onscreen (the cul-de-sac must be huge), there’s another huge man, the fraudulent peace-maker George (played by Jay Laga'aia, a.k.a. Captain Typho of Star Wars fame) who advises that Fritz should stay chill about the stolen belt.
“There are ways and there are ways,” he advises cryptically.
After Fritz suffers a serious beat-down by the Pig Hunters, he is chill no longer, choosing to shed his educated caution and let bloody-minded instinct rule. Aided by his uncle’s coaching and inspired by flashbacks and ghostly visitations from his charismatic late father, Fritz goes into training before the extended — and predictable — destruction of his rivals.
Latukefu, who plays a younger version of wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the upcoming NBC comedy series Young Rock, is well-built and well-cast as the slightly stuffed-shirt hero, while veteran New Zealand actor John Tui (Power Rangers SPD, Hobbes and Shaw) as the bushy-haired Baron, radiates playful charm, even while cracking two-by-fours over rivals heads.
The message of filial devotion seems specifically Tongan but also with an eye to a wide genre audience that will enjoy the largely bloodless and death-free mayhem. Modern and new traditions meet in the soundtrack, combining traditional Tongan male choral singing and contemporary New Zealand rap artists.
The Legend of Baron To’a. Directed by Kiel McNaughton. Starring: Uli Latukefu, Nathaniel Lees, John Tui, Jay Laga’aia and Savaughan Ruakere. Available on streaming services beginning December 4.