If you’re looking for a film with a plentiful supply of violence and profanity – then this undoubtedly fits the bill.
But as an action-thriller from the director of last year’s acclaimed End of Watch (and writer of Training Day), this inadvertently sabotages itself by trying to be far too clever.
It’s probably Arnie’s best effort since his movie hiatus as ‘the Governator’, and boasts an impressive cast – including Sam Worthington (Avatar), Terrence Howard (Iron Man), Mireille Enos (World War Z) and Josh Holloway (TV’s Lost) – as members of his elite DEA task force, who take on the world’s deadliest drug cartels.
But when John ‘Breacher’ Wharton (Schwarzenegger) and his team bite off more than they can chew by stealing $10m from drug barons – by trying to conceal the theft as part of a raid – members of the squad start to mysteriously get murdered in a game of ‘whodunnit’.
To be fair, Sabotage does try to be better than average genre fare – with some noteworthy shoot-outs and plentiful supply of twists and turns – but it ends up trading coherence with its failed attempt at ingenuity.
It seems like the filmmakers were simply trying too hard to recreate some of the chemistry from Arnie’s great early efforts like Predator – but the only thing his team has in common with Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura and co, is the ability to see who can drop the most ‘F’ bombs for swearing in a movie.
For a ‘lads’ night out, this definitely isn’t the worst action film you’ll see this year, but it’s a shame the script doesn’t match its laudable intentions.
As for Arnie, lets hope Terminator 5 really gets him back on the movie map.
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington, Mireille Enos, Terrence Howard, Josh Holloway, Olivia Williams, Joe Manganiello, Max Martini, Kevin Vance, Martin Donovan & Harold Perrineau
Running Time: 1hr 45mins
Director: David Ayer
Gavin Miller
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