Sabotage [DVD]

Of all of the Arnie films which have been released since The Governator stepped down, Sabotage is by far the most violent. The deaths, of which there are many, are realistic and grim, bloody and remorseless. Bystanders and main characters all meet their doom without fanfare, most of the main crew are unlikeable, and you should not expect a happy tale of ending like most of the classics from Arnie’s catalogue. Ayer brings the realism and a well-written script from a dialogue perspective, but the story is uneven, and the characters have essentially no room for growth; these are grunts only good for firing or being filled with bullets.The film begins with a full-throttle, full-blooded drug heist. Immediately we see that the action movie of today is much more grounded in ‘realism’ than previous decades – the group attacks like a group, using tactics and planning that the writers have pulled from real world scenarios, rather than John Woo or Commando attacks. Our group are part of the DEA, but it transpires that they have plotted to wipe out the bad guys, burn most of the money, and keep $10 million for themselves. However, someone double crosses them and their money is lost, setting the rest of the plot in motion. There is intrigue, mistrust, fragile brotherhood, paranoia, and a lot of bloodshed as the group tries to cover their own tracks while investigating who stole their money – the tension heightened when they begin to get picked off.As an action film, the movie ticks all the boxes – the gunfights are varied, realistic, and exciting – well-executed and convincing, and with a trilling car chase conclusion. The plot as a whole is fine, offering a number of twists and plenty of funny dialogue. The problem though is that everyone is a jerk, and the films offers little in the way of characterization or attempts at empathy. Arnie’s family are killed – we don’t care. The group are picked off one by one – we don’t care; in fact, the group themselves don’t care. They are presented as a close-knit force which has been through all kinds of hell multiple times, yet when they are killed off in increasingly gruesome ways, none of them seems to mind that they have lost a friend or that they may be next. Each of the characters relies on machismo and violence, but not a lot else, meaning there is little or no distinction between them – one is a woman, one is married to the woman, one has muscles, another has bigger muscles etc etc. It’s a pity, because it wastes what is an otherwise stellar cast. If we got a bit of background on each, or even - Aliens style - a few moments or examples of individuality whether it be a look, a quote, a style of speaking, it would have been a stronger film. The films does try to do this with a collection of haircuts and accents, but it fails as a whole.The story almost tries to throw too many twists, and too many characters into the mix. I can’t say that it keeps you guessing, because you likely won’t care enough to guess, but I wouldn’t say it is predictable. It’s all about the action and the bloodshed, and it does give an unflinching look at a world most of us would never want to glimpse. It’s great to see Arnie back to doing what he does best, although his finest moments come towards the end of the movie. The rest of the cast, or stunt cast, are exemplary in the set-pieces, as are the special effects. Arnie has a similar gruff persona to his role in End Of Days, but with less charm, while the rest of the cast do well in their roles – they may not be likeable, but they’re good at convincing us of that fact. Action movie and Arnie fans should be happy with the movie, but those expecting something more, or those hoping for another Arnie classic, may be disappointed. It’s still a decent entry for Arnie, with stronger action than his final few pre-Governator films, but doesn’t come close to the likes of Predator, Commando, Terminator, or Conan The Barbarian.

It's good to see Arnie acting for a change and if you've got a spare couple of hours free to spare then this movie is well worth the watch.

Good action film.

This film was a mess from the start, with some awful acting, dire and endless sweary "bro" dialogue and scenes which added nothing other than run time. Not to mention the non-sensical elements of the plot which accounted for much of the run time.Olivia Williams and her sidekick cop (comfortably the best two actors on display, which gets it a second star) threatened to halt the dreadfulness but there was only so much they could do before disappearing from the storyline for the last 15 minutes.Arnie was at best average, but his "crack DEA team" were, to a person, awful in terms of characterisation and performance. (I mean, who allows a clearly unstable drug addict loose canon to operate as part of such a team... nobody, that's who.... at least not in the real world).Skip this meat grinder if you possibly can.

There's no doubt that Arnie is always watchable, but this is a very unpleasant movie with a poor story. The plot centres on a corrupt DEA strike unit who are being picked off by a mystery assassin. There's a large and otherwise skilled cast who are wasted on a plot that makes no sense.There are some really gruesome murders and deeply unpleasant characters which - in other hands - might have made the picture more like Sicario. Regrettably the story falls short on many levels

Generic alpha-male, military-crime flick, with the division between good and bad being who can shoot a bit more accurately. This time, Arnie's love interest is Olivia Williams - when the Austrian Oak was a strapping 20 year old, Olivia hadn't yet been born - we really need to move on from depicting younger women in love with 60 year old men : sThere's some double crossing, there's some pools of blood, there's some snores. It all ends rather predictably although there's a half hearted stab at a twist. Maybe it paid for another house for Arnie, but it's neither something Arnie will be remembered for or just...remembered at all.