Sunday 7 June 2015

Sabotage: Mini Review...

What's it about?
A team of hard-as-nails DEA agents pinch a cool $10 million during a raid on a cartel stronghold and stash it for later - but when they return for it, they find it missing. Then, soon afterwards, the team starts getting picked off one-by-one.
Who would I recognise in it?
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington, Olivia Williams, Terrence Howard, Joe Manganiello, Josh Holloway, Mireille Enos, and more.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Testosterone overload ahoy in David Ayer's tough-as-old-boots thriller which plays out more as a murder mystery than a straight-faced action fest. That's not to say it's light on adrenaline - it's not, because there's eruptions of blood-splattering violence throughout (eviscerated and nailed to a ceiling, anyone?) - but the hard-hitting, teeth-gritting gruffness of it all is mixed with a complex who-dunnit plot...

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That said, convoluted might be a more accurate way of describing the story, which feels the need to complicate simple motives and edge towards an over-stuffed cast. Crammed with big personalities, Sabotage feels like one of Schwarzenegger or Mangianello's shirts - bulging with bravado (although, Mireille Enos often puts the bicep-flexing guys to shame with her image-shattering ultra-machismo). Ayer's strength, though, is his dedication to brutal violence and honest 'this is how brutal it is' realism. A little extra focus and leaner plotting might have helped balance the quiet/loud mix of the story, but Arnie's afforded some morally dubious meat to really chew on.

Blunt as a sledgehammer, juiced with adrenaline, and as cuddly as a rattlesnake, Sabotage isn't quite the extravaganza the trailers suggested, but taken as a mystery thriller with added gouts of blood, it's well worth checking out. Good.

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