Review of Sabotage (2014) by Nathan M — 07 Apr 2014

Or The One Where Mireille Enos Signed Up For a Film, and Then Realized Halfway Into Signing The Contract That Schwarzenegger Was In It...

What a turd this movie is. I can't really think of almost anything redeeming about it, except for Mireille Enos, and let me make it clear, she's not that good in it. But at least I can see she's trying. She works hard to bring something to this movie that it doesn't deserve to have in it. Some fun.

Writer/director David Ayer has decided, because his loose, improvisational style dialogue worked with great performers in End of Watch, it should work anywhere. What he forgot was he staffed his latest effort (if there's any effort behind this film) with "actors" like Schwarzenegger, Josh Holloway (or Sawyer from Lost), Joe Manganiello, and Terrence Howard (who I like less and less the more I see him). Most of the scenes where you can tell Ayer just said, "Say what you would say in this sewer where you expect to find money, but you can't", feels like a middle school play when someone forgot their lines. It's painful to watch.

But that's not what's so bad about this film. What really stinks here is how cynical and boring this film is. No one goes to a Schwarzenegger film to get a realistic depiction of the DEA, we want to see a big, dumb, and, mainly, FUN action flick. We don't need moments of reflection from Schwarzenegger, because he can't deliver.

But what we do need is to like the characters who we are supposed to be rooting for. But Sabotage would rather have every character on the strike team be both misogynistic and super aggressive. When we get scenes of the crew hanging out together, we often are disgusted by the way they treat every woman they meet, and every person they assault. Are we supposed to laugh at this? It seems like we are, but I don't think anyone is.

In the end, the film is just boring. The action isn't even working, and if you're going to make me hate the characters and watch bad acting, at least give me something to look at. Ayer can't deliver, and neither can Sabotage. Just skip this one.