Friday, March 28, 2014

Sabotage Movie Review

Olivia Williams & Arnold Schwarzenegger (r) in Sabotage

Breach On, Arnold!

Arnold Schwarzenegger is back, and he's taking no prisoners in David Ayer's violent, profanity-filled action thriller Sabotage. If you're looking for Junior or Kindergarten Cop... you'd better try NetflixThis Arnold dances a thin line between good cop/bad cop, with no shortage of fun (fair and foul) along the way.

Rotten Tomatoes Plot: In "Sabotage", Arnold Schwarzenegger leads an elite DEA task force that takes on the world's deadliest drug cartels. When the team successfully executes a high-stakes raid on a cartel safe house, they think their work is done - until, one-by-one, the team members mysteriously start to be eliminated. As the body count rises, everyone is a suspect.

What’s Best: It's not often that Arnie gets upstaged; yet alone by a woman, but the Governator never worked with the intoxicatingly mesmerizing Mireille Enos (World War Z) before. Enos' Lizzy Taylor steals every scene she's in (even in the background, as an impromptu pole dancer!) surpassing her male counterparts without an ounce of implausibility. Watch her career closely... She's libel to burst into stardom any day now.

As for Arnold, he makes everything better (even California politics) and it's great to see him in "all-out tough guy mode" again. Don't ask how, but he manages to look "age appropriate" without losing any of his Hollywood street cred in the process... Way to go Arnie! Who else could get away with saying, 'It's time to do the Lord's work,' before landing in a strip joint?

What’s Not: It's hard to put a finger on it, but Ayer's film seems to be missing something. Perhaps it's a touch of realism, as Team Breacher seems to run free of any kind of authority whatsoever. Some of the characters are just too over the top... even for me. When two of their own are brutally executed, the team's only reaction is to party with strippers. Not exactly my idea of "elite."

Best Line: Fans of Arnie have lots to choose from; but how do you beat, 'Look at you... with your 48% body fat. Fu*k you guys!' as a pissed-off Breacher lets two agents from Internal Affairs "have it." Lizzie's warning to Brentwood (Olivia Williams) 'Sweetheart, you're so in over your fu*king head: You need more than a Glock and sensible shoes,' ranks a close second.

Overall: Arnold and Lizzie notwithstanding, Sabotage has a lot going for it... including a slick, no-holds-barred finish that's fast, furious and violent. In fact, one could effectively argue that this movie is too violent. If you've seen any of Ayer's previous works, this should come as no surprise; but be forewarned. Chemistry is a bit of a stretch, especially between Arnie & icy cold Brentwood... but it produces a few good laughs. If you like your action rough, and your actors even rougher... Sabotage should be right up your alley.

Grade: B