CineTV's contest this week is a collaboration with my favorite game on Hive - "Rising Star". And just as Rising Star is about 'music' and 'song', this week's content is about our "Favorite 'Song' Used in a Movie".
Once I saw this week's subject, 'the song' popped up in my head and I knew which one it was going to be...
My Favorite Song EVER used in a Movie is...
Non other than Holding Out for a Hero by Jennifer Saunders by the end of Shrek 2.
Read on if you want the long version, if not, just skip to the "This is where things get serious" section
There's gonna be SPOILERS from here on, folks!!
Well, I'm not gonna go over the entire movie, but the important bits that give this song a whole other meaning than what it simply is as a song.
Shrek and Fiona have just been engaged. They are invited over to the "Far Far Away" kingdom to live with Fiona's parents - who are the King and Queen of the land. Upon finding out that his daughter has turned into an ogre and is married to one, Fiona's father becomes disheartened - he wanted her to marry Prince Charming, the Fairy Godmother's son.
Fiona's father pulls some strings here and there and hires an assassin to assassinate Shrek, but to no avail - Shrek makes friends with the assassin, AKA Puss in Boots, instead. Now, this fluffy fella joins the party to accompany Shrek through his journey.
Shrek tries to become closer to Fiona's father - trying to change himself. He gives the Fairy Godmother's factory, where she makes potions for different ends, a visit, asking for her guidance in his love life.
The Godmother instead, criticizes him and tells him that there is no such thing as a Happily Ever After for ogres in any story and he would never be happy.
Disheartened, he leaves, but a potion of sorts catches his eyes - the "Happily Ever After" Potion. He steals it from the godmother, drinks it, passes out, and wakes up to find out he has become the most handsome human in town. The potion also affected Fiona, turning her into a human as well. Also, our beloved Donkey has turned into a white Stallion.
NOTE: The potion was to help the user achieve their "Happily Ever After", but on the condition of kissing their lover before midnight, if not, the potion's effects would be reverted.
This is where things get serious
Confident that he can finally confront his lover and father-in-law now that he finally is a human, he goes back to the castle, but the Godmother has now found out about the potion he had stolen.
Fiona doesn't know Shrek's human face, so the Fairy Godmother introduces his son, Prince Charming, to be Shrek, and Fiona believes her. Shrek is late and sees Fiona in Charming's arms. The Godmother appears in front of Shrek and after some brainwashing by her, Shrek is left to believe that he is not the one whom Fiona loves and he better leave her alone so that they can both find true happiness.
Heartbroken once again, he leaves and goes to drink his sadness away. In the bar, he receives some inspiring words from the bartender and is once again motivated to go and tell Fiona that he truly loves her, but is then confronted by the Kingdom's police force and is put into jail.
Shrek being arrested - source
Now truly out of options, with no way to getting to his lover, Shrek is about to give in. But, unbeknownst to him, his friends back in his swap, had seen his arrest on TV and were on their way to rescue him.
After being rescued by his friends and having them join him, he tells them that there are guards after him and he can not easily walk past them into the castle full of guards and tell Fiona, now in her wedding with the fake Shrek, that he loves her.
The Gingerbread Man tells him he has an idea as to how to do that - the idea is to make another GIGANTIC Gingerbread Man - AKA Mongo.
He rides on Mongo's shoulder and he helps him barge into the wedding ceremony and voice his thoughts.
At last, this is where the fun begins
The combination of the amazing song (sang by the Fairy Godmother) at the wedding and the stressful sense of urgency on Shrek's side trying to get to his lover before she is wed to an imposter was something I could never get enough of as a kid. So, I present you the actual clip from the movie:
And hence, an action junkie who loves amazing music during the fight scenes was born.
A Bonus
One of my other favorite scenes in movies is the nightclub scene in John Wick, where he goes on a rampage at the club. Castlevania's songs are just amazing in those kinds of contexts.
Thanks for staying with me and reading up until here.
Cheers~