SABOTAGE

With Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington, Olivia Williams, Terrence Howard, Mireille Enos 

Written by David Ayer, Skip Woods
Directed by David Ayer

A rag-tag team of DEA operatives (led by Schwarzenegger) rob a drug cartel during a bust, but their bosses smell a rat – on top of that, an internal rat has made off with all the cash, and after a prolonged investigative probation period to try and nail them, they become the target of a killer, knocking them off one at a time, in rather bloody and creative ways.  Reluctantly co-operating with a female homicide detective, much conniving is uncovered.

With enough action and guess work to keep the viewer entertained, the most irritating part of the movie that almost spoiled it for me completely, is Enos (star of TV’s The Killing) with her utterly annoying, macho characterization of the team’s only female member – But as I always have to remind myself, it certainly takes a good actor / actress to convince you of their character to the extent that it grates within your core…

After making his comeback with Last Stand, Schwarzenegger seems well on his way to resurrecting his ‘80s action-man aura – but to me, this movie doesn’t really do enough to add to that legacy.  Sure, it’s an exciting enough action/crime flick, but those classic character-driven blow-‘em-up movies he became known for (from Terminator to Predator) is not really present here.  Age certainly has a lot to do with it, but this could actually be utilized more effectively (like Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven did), that “I’m getting too old for this shit” routine - but you can only use that motif a few times before that would also become stale.  

While it seems like an apt action movie title, I don’t really feel it is a relevant one for this story…
What would’ve made this great was if the closing credits were accompanied by the Beastie Boys’ classic track “Sabotage”...

3 / C
- Paul Blom

0 1 2 3 4 5 6
- A - B - C

A: Multiple Viewing Potential
B: Deserves Another Look
C: Once Should Suffice