At the Theater - "Sabotage" (2014) - Arnold Schwarzenegger headlines this tale of an elite DEA task force who find themselves being mysteriously eliminated one by one after a lucrative raid on a drug cartel's safe house. The story is a very loose reimagining of Agatha Christie's novel, And Then There Were None, with the bulk of the narrative concerning the mounting suspicion and simmering paranoia amongst the group fueled by each member's gruesome death- is this the work of a vengeful cartel or has one or more of the team gone rogue?
John "Breacher" Wharton would indeed mark Schwarzenegger's edgiest role in a modern-set action film to date, with the Austrian-American about 90 percent up to the task- there are scenes throughout that surprised me, leading me to believe that Director and co-scripter David Ayer (End Of Watch, Training Day) had (at least partially) made good on his public promise of "re-inventing" Arnold. Looking his most weathered and natural since... hell, I can't remember when, the 66-year-old action film icon maintains a commanding presence and still chews scenery with the best of them. I loved his strange but awesome pompadour fade haircut.
DEA team members include; the hulking Joe Manganiello (Magic Mike) as the corn-rowed biker, "Grinder", while a nearly unrecognizable Sam Worthington (Avatar), sporting a shaved head and a billy goat's beard, supplies the schizophrenic, crazy eyed, "Monster". Josh Holloway (CBS's Intelligence) is "Neck" here, while Terrence Howard (Crash) plays "Sugar", Max Martini (Pacific Rim) is "Pyro" and Kevin Vance is "Tripod". Most will undoubtedly remember Mirelle Enos's (AMC's The Killing) turn as the drug-fueled, live wired, "Lizzy"- the Houston, Texas native steals every scene she's in.
There are scenes of camaraderie amongst the team on display (set mostly in strip-joints), yet there's precious little depth given to any of the team members outside of Arnold's Breacher. Furthermore, none of these hardcore professionals are all that likeable- the fracturing unit comes across as more of a gang gone rabid. It's Schwarzenegger's inherent charisma that holds the narrative together.
Brit Olivia Williams (Rushmore, The Sixth Sense) is still rather sexy as the Homicide Detective on the case, though she's wearing far too much makeup here and I wasn't too keen on the southern (Georgia) accent. Harold Perrineau (The Edge) rounds out the notable cast as her detective partner.
Those who enjoy questioning the logic behind their cinematic endeavors will surely find that the motivations and reasoning behind certain events in the film don't quite gel upon reflection. One thing that bothered the hell out of me- why would one particularly bloody crime scene (staged in a kitchen) be mopped up so nicely by the perpetrator only to stuff the victim in a nearby (leaky) fridge? When taken into consideration the amount of time and effort involved with the extensive cleaning (the floor is completely blood-soaked) compared to how much time the concealment buys the perp, it doesn't make a damned bit of sense. There's a number of other, perhaps more worthwhile, questions and problems to pick at, though I felt the narrative never jumped completely off the rails of logic.
Expect a blood, guts and brain spattered experience littered with as many grisly kills as there are flippant F-bombs. The film features a healthy handful of well-shot, close-quarter gun battles and one solid car chase to keep the action-craving crowd entertained- there's small dashes of humor throughout (for levity's sake), though I wish this aspect of the film had been punched up a bit. I'm still not quite sure how I felt about a Nuevo Western epilogue that seemed lifted from another type of film.
I saw this movie on it's opening weekend on a Sunday afternoon, only to return home and hear about how poorly it was received at the U.S. box-office - this may very well spell the end of Schwarzenegger's stand-alone career (there's always the Expendables franchise), with the endless barrage of PG-rated animated kid's films, family friendly young adult fantasy epics and mega-budgeted, PG-13 superhero extravaganzas pretty much ruling the current roost. Strange, and admittedly a bit sad, to see a personal childhood hero and cinematic icon so unceremoniously abandoned. I have grown old...
Although it's decidedly uneven, Sabotage is nowhere near as ungodly messy as the Kevin Costner vehicle 3 Days To Kill or as absolutely ludicrous as the most recent Liam Neeson headliner, Non-Stop (both released in late February, 2014). This isn't one of Arnold's best (True Lies, The Terminator, Predator), though I'd be fine with chalking it up near the top of his guilty pleasures (The Last Stand, T3: Rise Of The Machines, Eraser)- it's a problematic though passable B-Movie actioner that should please most of his die-hard fans.
7.5 out of 10
Director: David Ayer
Cast: Arnold Schwarzennegger, Sam Worthington, Olivia Williams, Joe Manganiello, Josh Holloway, Terrence Howard, Max Martini, Harold Perrineau Kevin Vance and Mireille Enos
Run-Time: 109 minutes
MPAA: Rated R for strong bloody violence, pervasive language, some sexuality/nudity and drug use
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