Review of Pain & Gain (2013) by Vandyprice — 06 Jun 2013

I've never been on the Michael Bay bashing train and certainly don't plan to start now as his latest, "smaller" film is likely the most interesting piece of work he will ever put to film. Interesting being the key word here as the story Bay has chosen to recount is one of the most outlandish and absurd truths that has also likely even been put to film. I have been highly anticipating Pain & Gain if not for the chance to see the now solidified movie star of Mark Wahlberg make his next move as well as watching Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson continue to skyrocket towards superstar status, but for the opportunity to see Bay stretch his visual (and maybe even storytelling) muscles with something other than big CGI robots. It has been nearly six years since the first Transformers film and in the time that Bay has delivered two sequels he has also had the growing ambition for this kind of passion project and that comes through in the execution and style with which Pain & Gain is delivered. There have already been some pretty heavy accusations and criticisms of the film thrown out and while I can understand where some of these are coming from in regards to the family of the deceased feeling this is making light of their family members deaths, the film certainly isn't glorifying the main characters and if anything, the source of the comedy comes from how stupid and incompetent these lead protagonists are in their dim-witted schemes. There are plenty of words being thrown around like homophobic or misogynistic to describe the director and his film yet it has always been clear the world these characters lived in was a world of strippers and bodybuilders who'd do anything for their physique yet likely oppose anything even the least bit gay. Those complaints are rendered mute by the fact those attributes are what create the atmosphere and the actions of the characters are so off-putting and the story so strange that it is also becomes extremely engaging.

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