Review of Sabotage (2014) by John M — 18 Aug 2014

I know Arnold's trying, but this is the extent of what we can expect from his productions these days. So this is about a DEA task force that schemes to skim $10 million dollars off the top of a bust.

When the money goes missing and the members start getting picked off one by one, will they be able to figure out who is behind it all? This comes across as a movie that is aimed for dads who are looking for a break from their families; there's bloody gore effects, a little bit of T & A, macho swearing and an icon they love from 30 years ago.

To the filmmaker's credit, this starts off with promise; it is cool to watch this team clear a room, and it works best when it is in full video game mode. That said, it runs into serious narrative problems; around 20 - 30 minutes in, it just loses all sight of where going and why everybody's here.

While the supporting cast starts off lively, it isn't long before you realize how underwritten everyone is. What makes this so unmemorable is that there is nothing about this that makes this stand out from every other post-political Arnold movie; this, Escape Plan and The Last Stand all underachieve equally, and there isn't a thing you walk away remembering.

There isn't even demand for these things like there used to be, as evident by the box office returns. All of that aside, I think there's one thing we can agree on: there isn't nearly enough Beastie Boys in this movie.