Fatherhood is a very complex role that is often overlooked honestly. It is a tough job that one doesn't always get right and is always learning in. With Father's Day this weekend, I went through the film crates and picked five action/adventure movies about father's and fatherhoods that are themes of films, and you wouldn't realize it at first.
5. Hook
1991's Hook directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook and Robin Williams as Peter Banning, an adult Peter Pan. I enjoyed the movie as a kid and wanted to be a part of the cool kids known as The Lost Boys, but I always felt the movie was a little long. Now as an adult I kind of understand why. The movie follows a typical Spielberg subject is about fathers and fatherhood and it was quite a lot to unpack in the film. Let's break it down really quick.
Peter Pan was abandoned as infant, grew up alongside his fellow lost boys raising themselves in Neverland and never aging. Once he decided to leave Neverland he was adopted by a now adult Wendy and raised by her. Peter never had a father role model, so he grew up to become a success driven yuppie who often neglected his kids not on purpose, but because he didn't know any better. His son Jack yearns for nothing more than his dad to acknowledge him and spend time with him and his sister Maggie. Jack nearly falls under the spell of his almost "surrogate" father Captain Hook, until Peter realizes a lot about himself in his return to Neverland.
4. Rocky V
Rocky V is like a paradox of a movie for lack of a better word. It begins right after Rocky's Christmas bout against Drago in Rocky IV which was in 1985. Yet several years have clearly passed, and Rocky Jr. who we last saw as a 9 year old in the previous film is now somewhere between 12 and 13 years old. Yet no one bat's a eye at this development, there are some other hiccups with the film but it is not as bad as many claim.
Despite it's issue one thing it does get right is one area Rocky needs to work on, in being a father. Rocky and his son have a close relationship that deteriorates as Rocky's protege Tommy Gunn steps on the scene and begins to gain acclimate. Rocky treats him as a son, in turn neglecting his own son yet not fully realizing it, (Rocky is a tad slow after all). Rocky must work to repair that relationship and although it's quickly resolved, it does highlight the importance of fathers maintaining that bond with their kids. Being self aware of intervening and acknowledging when things are no longer going smooth in the relationship.
Rocky V is not the only film in the series that touches on fatherhood, here's an article from the crates on the theme of fathers in Creed II.
3. Black Panther
Which segues into the next film on the list Black Panther, starring Michael B. Jordan and the late Chadwick Boseman. Directed by Ryan Coogler who directed the original Creed film. Jordan and Chadwick play distant first cousins on opposite sides of ideology, who are more alike than they may think. They both have been molded and severely affected by actions of their fathers, Killmonger has a thirst for revenge and a desire to turn the world order upside down. Inspired by the teachings of his father. The scene where Killmonger meets his father in the ancestral plane shows how much he really needed his father. T'Challa while more noble aspires to make his father proud in the afterlife following his steps.
Yet T'Challa soon learns of past trangressions of his father, and that the ideals shared by his father and past generations of how to protect Wakanda are harming people more than helping. The two wrestle with the shadows of their respective fathers, while forging their own paths. Sometimes no matter how much you aspire to be like your father, or finish what they started you have to make your own way. On the other hand, as one grows older they may learn their father's teachings weren't always right and set out make their own way.
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie
1990's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is without question the best live action Turtles film ever produced. Besides the grittier tone than the other films, the at that time cutting edge animatronics and the cool fight scenes. The film also had a heart and a message about fathers and the importance they play in youngsters lives. The turtles really come into their own and learn to lean on one another more when their surrogate father Splinter is abducted by the foot clan. It's clear from the moment they realize it, they are essentially lost without him as he has guided their lives thus far.
On the flip side Shredder is leading astray youths recruiting them into his organization to do his dirty work. He reminds the wayward youths that they are family and he is their "father", brainwashing kids who just want to belong to something or feel loved. That point is driven home by the inclusion of a teenager named Danny, who's father is April O'neil's manager. His father has his head so deep into work, he doesnt realize he's neglecting Danny. Which leads him to the Foot Clan and Shredder.
The movie is really deep on the subject of fathers when you think about it.
1. Guardians of the Galaxy 2
When we met Peter Quill in Guardians Of The Galaxy, we learned he was an only child of his mother who was dying from cancer. Upon her passing he was abducted and whisked off to space, becoming a rogue space pirate who eventually helped save the galaxy. At the end of the film he learns he is half human and his father is from a powerful alien race. Fast forward a few years, and Peter finally meet's his father Ego in Guardians Of The Galaxy 2. Trying to catch up on years of missed time, he becomes a starry eyed kid again,
Until he learns his father isn't what he seems and just because someone sires you, that doesn't make them your father. Eventually Peter is torn between the biggest father figures in his life, Ego who he just met. And Yondu who actually raised him the best way he knew how and cared for Peter as a person. In addition to coming terms with who his true "father" was, Quill also learns about family. Accepting the rest of the team as his true family.
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