Review of Sabotage (2014) by Corey S — 04 Nov 2014

"Oh Arnold, what a bloody mess you made".

DVD Movie Review: Sabotage.

Date Viewed: July 22 2014.

Directed By David Ayer (End of Watch and Street Kings).

Written By David Ayer and Skip Woods.

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mireille Enos, Sam Worthington, Joe Manganiello,.

Terrence Howard, Josh Holloway, Olivia Williams, Martin Donovan, Max Martini, Kevin Vance, Gary Grubbs and Harold Perrineau.

"Sabotage" is nothing but disgusting garbage.

After you see Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest action movie, you might want to take a shower because it is full of dead bodies and gruesome violence. "Sabotage" is a step backward for writer/director David Ayer who previously brought us the gritty cop thriller "End of Watch". Last year, Arnold's return to the movies was quite embarrassing. Even though "The Last Stand" and "Escape Plan" we're total box office bombs, I enjoyed them for what they are, entertaining Arnold vehicles. Ayer thought he could get a great performance from Schwarzenegger but here's the problem, he's stranded in a "Saw" movie.

"Sabotage" begins with two cringe-inducing images, a woman being tortured by the Mexican cartel and Schwarzenegger listening to the video. Schwarzenegger plays John "Breacher" Wharton, the leader of an elite team of DEA agents. The members of his DEA task force are "Monster" (Sam Worthington), Lizzy (Mireille Enos), "Grinder" (Joe Manganiello), "Neck" (Josh Holloway), "Sugar" (Terrence Howard), "Pyro" (Max Martini), "Tripod" (Kevin Vance) and "Smoke" (Mark Schlegel). When the team raids on a cartel warehouse, they steal $10 million from the cartel and they hide the money in the sewer pipes. Hmmmm. What could possibly go wrong?

Soon, members of Breacher's team get killed one-by-one by an unknown assassin. Pyro gets killed when his trailer gets rammed by a train and Neck gets nailed to the ceiling. Investigator Caroline Brentwood (Olivia Williams) and her partner Darius (Harold Perrineau) are assigned to the case and Breacher works with Brentwood in order to figure out who is the killer. Breacher finds out that the killer is a member of his team and then we get more gruesome death scenes. "Sabotage" is a bloody mess from beginning to end.

How appealing is that, the team also has a Ronbo poster at their base. Ronald Reagan's head attached to Rambo's body, you know what that means, these guys are huge supporters of the NRA. Olivia Williams is massively miscast as the private investigator. Not only does she have a bad accent she also has a love affair with Schwarzenegger. Breacher had a wife and son but they were kidnapped and tortured to death by the cartel.

Supporting players like Terrence Howard, Joe Manganiello and Sam Worthington (in his first big movie since the bombastic "Wrath of the Titans") are way too good for this material.

"Sabotage" is so brutal and ugly, I don't think a maid would likely clean up this mess. Despite being the master of police thrillers like "Training Day", "Dark Blue", "S.W.A.T.", "Harsh Times" and "End of Watch", writer and director David Ayer should no better. It maybe a dark vehicle for Arnold, but what drove him into making this nasty piece of garbage.