I guess that's that then. Time to hang
'em up. Call it. The leading man days of Arnold
and Sly and the rest of my homeboys are over. It brings
me no joy to say this, because if their day is done, then my
day is done since these guys raised me. I take my son to
see 'Divergent', a full week after it's been released, and
theater is still full. Then yesterday, after being out
all of a day, I go all by my lonesome to see this movie
'Sabotage', and it's just me and a couple of dudes - loyalist
- strewn across the empty theater. Almost nobody in this
nation has ponied up to see this film. Our day is
done. The action genre now belongs to melodramatic
teenage girls and Men in Tights. And Liam Neeson.
Need to examine that one. It's too bad really because
'Sabotage' is a movie that puts the 'hard' into
'hardcore'. This movie is brutal, and for a little
while, completely outstanding.
Not too long ago, some really bad men kidnapped supreme DEA
agent John 'Breacher' Wharton's wife and teenage son and
tortured them to death. They sent him a video of that
torture. One he watches like every day. Does that
sound healthy to you? I'm really not one for the field
of psychotherapy, but if ever there was a dude that needed to
talk to somebody, it's this dude right here.
Fast forward a few months where Breacher and his team of extra
crazy DEA agents are about to take down some drug lord.
They don't seem interested in taking any prisoners. Not
at all. What they are
interested in is taking a slice of that big stack of cash in
the middle of the floor, of which they peel off ten million
worth before blowing up the rest. Wanna know what's
great about this scene? Agent Lizzy (Mirielle Enos),
that's what. How many people do you know that in one
smooth motion can kick a guy in the nuts, backflip to her
feet, disarm this dude, kill this dude, kill whomever else
runs into the room, outrun bullets, hurdle bannisters like
Lolo Jones, then switch out of slut gear into tactical gear in
about eight seconds. All while high on cocaine.
That's beyond awesome. Two things though… that
money they snatched seems to be missing from where they hid
it, and worse still, the bosses at the DEA seem to know, to
the penny, that Breacher's team stole this loot. They
just don't have any concrete proof.
The DEA brass tries to sweat these guys,
suspend them, grill them, threaten them, but these guys don't
break. Not even close. After the suspension is
lifted, now it is time for Breacher to get the band back
together and get back to business of hunting down some drug
lords. Too bad somebody has decided to start hunting
them instead.
The first death looked like an accident, and the cop
investigating this case, Detective Brentwood (Olivia
Williams), was about to classify it as such. The second
death… not so much, and now everybody is on alert. Who's
killing these guys? The cartel they stole from?
The same guys that killed Breacher's family? One of
their own? It's a conundrum. One that will be
solved via death by all kinds of means. Mostly bullet to
the head though.
So I can tell you right off the bat my problem with director
David Ayer's film 'Sabotage'. When it's all said and
done and all that we know has come to light, it makes… no...
freaking… sense. You're thinking… wait… that person did
this to those people because of what? Couldn't this
person have done this to those people long before this
point? Mind you, this person did tell us why they did
what they did, but we needed a little more exposition on the
'why', and what I really needed was a lot more exposition on
the 'how'. Wait… those bodies ended up down there
how? And assuming it was the same person that did that
other thing to those people… how in the hell did they pull
that off? Mind you, every single person in this movie is
a badass. Good guys, bad guys, waiters, homeless people…
everybody. My point being that you would be hard
pressed sneaking up on me, being I'm a highly trained badass,
and somehow nailing me to a ceiling. Waitaminute… You
mean to tell me this person can get out a rifle and headshot
somebody from a half mile away, but can't headshot somebody
who is twenty feet away across a parking lot? Oh…
Yeah… that somebody must have their name above the
title. Makes no… freaking… sense.
Does this mean that we didn't enjoy 'Sabotage'? Oh good
heavens no. We almost loved this movie. Those
things I just mentioned are the barrier between like and love,
but this was about as good of a time, watching complete
nonsense, that just about anybody could experience. The
first forty five minutes are just about pitch perfect.
David Ayer and his trademark, handheld gritty style is
working, the dialog is abrasively funny, the violence is high,
the characters are engaging… a romantic comedy should be so
lucky to have the kind of chemistry that Max Martini, Sam
Worthington, Terrence Howard, Josh Holloway, Mirielle Enos and
Joe Manganiello had working together… and by the time our
first agent bit the dust, we had a legitimate mystery on our
hands that was both engrossing and harrowing. At this
point, me and 'Sabotage' are simpatico.
Then things slow down a little bit. Oivlia Williams
shows up investigating the crime, which is good because her
character is a good one… despite a southern accent that was
all over the place…her appearance sets up some more
interesting stuff, and besides, we can't have these loons
drinking, getting lap dances and shooting people in the head
all day. But there comes a point in the 'mystery' of
this film, as our screenwriters have shown their hand, that
I'm thinking whatever conclusion they eventually do arrive at,
it won't be a satisfying one. The narrative just went
someplace that I, personally, did not feel was going to
work. It didn't. It was insane nonsense. But
getting to that nonsense did include more badass action. Ever
wonder why, during those crazy busy street shootouts, why
innocent bystanders don't get shot or rundown or crushed… uh…
they do. At least they do here. More
awesomeness.
Because of the narrative, I'm almost inclined to think that
'Sabotage' might be in need of a 'Director's Cut' or
something… but that's unlikely, because most people spent
their time avoiding this otherwise fine film, instead of
watching it. That's too bad. We knew the grave had
been dug, we knew the body had been placed in it, but we were
avoiding throwing the dirt on it. I'm afraid its time.
