Sharpen your eyes, America. It’s time to see what’s in plaid sight.
“Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan” airs TONIGHT on SyFy at 8 p.m. CST. Check your local cable or satellite listings.
“Axe Giant” is the oddly enjoyable B-movie I’ve been advocating for no compensation, purely of my own volition. It chops down the legend of Northern Minnesota’s own Paul Bunyan, skids it to the river and sends the story floating down to the mill.
Imagine, if you will, that the tall tale of Paul Bunyan — the smiling, giant lumberjack and his blue ox who cleared the forests for our modern cities — was just a cover story. Paul Bunyan was real. Paul Bunyan was real big. Paul Bunyan was real mad. And Paul Bunyan is actually still alive, so we can dispense with past tense and get ready for some chop chop chop action.
Oh, there’s more plot than that. Why are we introduced to the fact that this small Minnesota town has a backwoods militia early in the film? That seems like relevant information. What happens to the bar owner, a kind, funny, handsome but plain woman who has feelings for the sheriff? Why is her father such a terrible actor? Why is a teenage genius who hacked a bank and stole millions of dollars sent to a work farm in northern Minnesota? And why is he so stupid once he gets there? Can a guy talk once he’s been cut in half at the waist? Our working premise is YES!
Just remember what happens to girls who take off their shirts in horror movies. You know. Actually I don’t know, but a girl takes off her shirt in this movie … though I imagine that scene will get the Bunyan ax in the national cable airing. Pity, because I imagine that doesn’t help her chances later in the movie.
Please, do me a favor and enjoy as I did, the foley artistry when Paul Bunyan arrives at the 1800s logging camp and sees what the loggers are eating. It’s like you’re right there with several burly men eating meat. Turn up the volume. Up Up Up.
Last week I was on WGZS-FM out of Cloquet with JP Rennquist for an interview about Axe Giant, that ended up veering into comments about Minnesota wolf hunting and, naturally, the upcoming June 29 Great Northern Radio Show. You might enjoy listening or viewing the interview through this video JP put together:
You can play it and do other stuff if you just want to listen, but you might enjoy the slide show images he edits into the video.
im watching that movie right now and his name isn’t paul bunyal its l bunyan
Well, Paul Bunyan is in the title of the movie, soooo … yeah. It’s possible that you’re thinking of the French logging magnate who moved to Minnesota and whose wife gave birth to the man-monster Paul. That is a plot point discussed midway through the movie. I do forget the father’s name, though.