Review of Pain & Gain (2013) by Sean C — 13 Apr 2014

Pain and gain starts out well. Setting the scene and the characters nicely. A 3 star crime drama and Michael Bay's best. But as you would expect, it being a Michael bay film, it all falls apart horribly.

The three main characters commit a horrid crime and beat the man they kidnapped. Although it is hard to sympathise with the man they nabbed, he is an arse. They take basically everything from him and then start living it up. Of course he wants to get revenge and hires a detective to expose them. Of course (in Michael bay fashion), there are fast cars, steroid riddled bodybuilders, and women in bikinis in the background.

But once they've done it the already not so funny humor goes completely out of the window. Some disgusting, grotesque things are done which under any circumstance would make someone turn away from whatever black and cold was happening. And yet is supposed to make us laugh. Really?

And then it all goes to s***. You soon after develop hate for all the characters involved and the things they do, and you end up happy when the men you're meant to be cheering on finally get caught and go off to prison.

A disappointment as the film stared brightly and looked like it could be OK at best soon descends into a black whole of dirt. You end up just annoyed at how good any other director could have made this film. A despicable crime by despicable people in a nearly despicable film. A few saving features albeit but not enough to drag it out the black whole it unfortunately got itself plunged into.!