Review of Pain & Gain (2013) by Fernando F — 23 Dec 2013

Finally, a much solid film from the notorious Michael Bay, known for making big-budget films that focus too much on special effects, explosions and visuals. This time, Pain & Gain isn't a big-budget movie and it doesn't involve explosions and all that. It pays much more attention to dialogue and coherent editing, compared to his previous films, among them the infamous Transformers series. However, while the film is in a few ways entertaining (it could cause some laughs), the film is very violent and has lots of profanity but does have solid acting, especially from its three leads: Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson and Anthony Mackie.

The film doesn't promise comfortable viewing at all, it could bring some laughs in some scenes but not even the laughs nor the solid acting can overcome its very violent themes. And what makes it disturbing to watch this film is that it is based on true events, even though it has noticeable differences to the true story.

The film isn't completely a comedy, it mostly has very serious parts but it has a few funny parts and dialogue.

I commend Michael Bay for departing from making ridiculously-made big-budget films and decide to make this vastly different film before going back to do some more ridiculous films by starting with the upcoming Transformers: Age of Extinction.

Conclusion: The film may entertain in some ways, but it isn't comfortable viewing and people under 16 should not watch this film as it also has a very few parts of nudity and sexual references. There could be laughs made from watching the film. But it'll be kind of tough to watch the film because of its violence. So, if you plan on watching this film, then I wish you good luck and hope you enjoy the movie.