SABOTAGE (2014) – The Review

With Hollywood these days the old adage “everything old is new again” seems to really apply to those golden 1980’s (ugh, I feel ancient!). Kids shows from the era like “Transformers” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” are big blockbuster flicks at the multiplex. And there have already been remakes of 80’s flicks the first couple of months of 2014 with ROBOCOP and ENDLESS LOVE. Of course, there’s the stars of that decade. In two weeks we’ll see Kevin Costner in his fourth feature film in less than ten months with DRAFT DAY. Then there’s the big action icons, and nobody dominated the big screen then more than rivals Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger (who joined forces in the EXPENDABLES series and last year’s ESCAPE PLAN. But Arnold stepped away from the sound stages for the governor’s mansion for several years while Vin Diesel and Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson took over the big-muscle roles. Scandals pretty much ended Arnold’s political career, but can the greying “Austrian Oak” reignite his film career? Well, he’s getting a bit out of his movie comfort zone by teaming up with writer/director David Ayer who wrote the gritty TRAINING DAY and the lauded police thriller END OF WATCH. Can he help make Arnold a big gun at the box office once more?

In SABOTAGE Arnold is John ‘Breacher’ Wharton, a DEA agent haunted by past tragedies who leads an elite task force that includes ‘Neck” (Josh Holloway), ‘Sugar’ (Terrance Howard), ‘Grinder’ (Joe Manganiello), ‘Pyro’ (Max Martini), and the husband and wife team of ‘Monster’ (Sam Worthington) and Lizzie (Mirelle Enos). As the film opens they stage a violent raid on the mansion of a big time drug dealer. Lizzie, their agent undercover, directs them to the massive hidden stash of cash. After trimming a few million from the top, Breacher and the crew hide it for a later pick-up, and blow up the bulk of the loot. When they return to the drop spot, the dough is gone. Who snatched it up? While the incident  is investigated, Breacher must “ride a desk”, while his team is left to spin their wheels (training at their hideaway HQ). After the heat blows over, Breacher puts his squad back on the job. But someone has other plans, as crew members, one by one, meet gruesome deaths. Breacher teams up with Caroline (Oliva Williams) a tough, no-nonsense FBI agent, to find out who’s out to eliminate his drug-busting brothers (and a sister).

Arnold gives a quiet, restrained performance as a tough as nails commander shouldering a massive sadness. He’s a greying, glowering, grimacing pitbull of a man who barks at his team when not lighting up another in an endless supply of massive cigars. Basically the counterpart to the more colorful team and he is unfortunately overshadowed by them on screen. Arnold does have a good rapport with Williams as the often funny, straight-shooting bureau worker who’s a bit adrift in the sea of macho posturing. Manganiello is a compelling physical presence as the group’s moral compass with an intimidating look and tightly wound hairstyle choices. Howard is an unflappable smooth talker who always seem to have a plan or three in his back pocket. Holloway oozes cool southern charm, much like his character from TV’s “Lost”. Speaking of which, his co-star from that show, Harold Perrineau shines as Williams’s FBI confidant and co-worker. Worthington with his shaved head and wild, twisted goatee is almost unrecognizable as the aggressive point man who is torn between his boss and his missus. Enos gives Lizzy an almost feral quality as the wild-eyed spitfire who may not be completely finished with her past indulgences. She brings an earthy, unpredictable energy to every scene. This is probably Arnold’s best big screen support team since the original PREDATOR..

It’s a shame this macho crew isn’t given a more meaty story to sink their teeth into. Director Ayer makes many scenes far too confusing as he cuts between the crime and later investigation with little method of keeping the two timelines separate. At the end of the second act one character goes off in a direction that contradicts almost everything seen earlier. And just who was in on the drug money rip-off? Just the team or everybody at the agency? For the last half of the film it turns from cop thriller to “Ten Little Indians” slasher-like whodunit (or who’s gonna’ meet a  gnarly, grisly demise?). Like those flicks, the gore and grime is so intense it hovers over every frame of film. Buckets of sticky-looking crimson wash over everyone at times (you wonder how long it took to scrub that gunk off after wrapping). The big car chase near the finish is particularly horrific as many innocent bystanders meet their demise (no PG fruit stands crashes here). After the mystery is revealed the film is further dragged down by a brutal, ludicrous epilogue. Credit Arnold for trying to go in a different direction, but SABOTAGE is a grimy, nasty dour trudge through a swamp of brutality and blood that should repulse fans of the affable action superstar. We hope he’ll be “boock” with a much better flick!

2.5 Out of 5