Sabotage (2014) [Blu-ray]
Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline: Leave no loose ends

Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in the pulse-pounding action film Sabotage, from the director of End of Watch and the writer of Training Day. When DEA task force leader Breacher Wharton (Schwarzenegger) storms a heavily armed cartel safe house, rogue members of his team use it as a cover to steal $10 million in cash. But just when they think their secret is safe, agents are killed off one-by-one, and everyone is a suspect, including the squad itself. Co-starring Sam Worthington, Olivia Williams, Terrence Howard, Joe Manganiello, Josh Holloway and Mireille Enos, Sabotage is an explosive tale of betrayal and trust that critics call "a tense, action-packed thrill ride!" (Mark DeCarlo, ABC-TV's Windy City LIVE)

Storyline: Members of an elite DEA task force find themselves being taken down one by one after they rob a drug cartel safe house.

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman on July 11, 2014 -- Outside of, perhaps, Raw Deal, Arnold Schwarzenegger has never been known to star in truly gritty, edgy films. Bloody, yes, but there was always a mass audience appeal to them, some underlying humor, and nothing too serious or brooding. Even in those film in which he portrayed a down-and-out sort of character, as was the case in End of Days, there was still that classic Arnold flow and feel. All of that changes with Sabotage, easily the darkest, most difficult film of his career. On the surface, it's little more than a "whodunit" procedural with more blood and guts than Predator, but deeper down is the story of a haunted man surrounded by hardened, downtrodden people all carrying heavy baggage and burdened with difficult emotional turmoil. The film may not be a rousing success and a classic Arnold crowd pleaser, but it's arguably the most complexly deep film of his career but one that still entertains as a run-and-gun Action flick on its grisly surface.

A DEA team, led by John 'Breacher' Wharton (Schwarzenegger) and including James 'Monster' Murray (Sam Worthington), Lizzy Murray (Mireille Enos), Joe "Grinder" Philips (Joe Manganiello), Eddie "Neck" Jordan (Josh Holloway), Bryce "Tripod" McNeely (Kevin Vance), Julius "Sugar" Edmonds (Terrence Howard), Tom "Pyro" Roberts (Max Martini), and "Smoke" Jennings (Mark Schlegel), raids a drug-bought house and finds an incredible fortune in neatly stacked cash. Before blowing the money, the team steals around $10,000,000 from the top and sends it to a sewer for later retrieval. When the group gets there, the money is nowhere to be found. All are investigated and placed off duty but ultimately reinstated. They are slowly picked off, one by one, obviously in some connection to the money. As they hurry to uncover the truth, Breacher joins forces with a government agent named Caroline Brentwood (Olivia Williams) in a last-ditch effort to find answers before they all turn up dead.

Sabotage is a rare character-driven Action movie that's much more about motivation, personal history, and camaraderie than it is the usual Action movie mantra of "see bad guy, shoot bad guy, save the day." Action films have been inching in this direction for awhile now, particularly the DTV field that tends to overcomplicate the plot and the characters, tone down the action, and find itself in a murky middle ground where nothing works. Sabotage finds that middle ground, embraces it, and walks that line with confidence. The characters are well-developed, real, and relatable, even as they put on a hard, impenetrable exterior of muscle, tattoo, and precision operator skill. Where the movie goes -- who's behind what, the motivations that drive the characters -- really doesn't come as much of a surprise once all is revealed, but the film does well to hide its intentions and allow the mystery and action to play out side-by-side while simultaneously digging deeper into the lives of all the key players.

Director David Ayer, whose End of Watch was met with some acclaim -- and from Arnold Schwarzenegger himself -- perfectly paces Sabotage and intermixes all of those key elements together with a gritty grace that serves the movie very well. His pacing is deliberate, but not slow, allowing characters and the larger complexities of their lives to seep into the audience at a fast trickle, fast enough to keep the movie flowing and slow enough not to spoil the ride too early. His cast is equally strong. Arnold, though looking his years now (but who pumps a little iron in the movie, anyway) and sporting a weird haircut, impresses in the lead as a man driven and haunted by his past, not in a generic way but in a very tangible way, a way that allows him to wear his pain on his sleeve but still work with a strong arm and lead his men with mind as much as muscle. His supporting cast is excellent, including solid performances from Sam Worthington, Mireille Enos, and Joe Manganiello as key team members. Sabotage amounts to a very basic human story by its end, even through all of the rough-and-tumble tough guy stuff that forms its deliberately hardened shell inside of which is a very soft, emotionally grounded middle.

Of all the Arnold movies out there, Sabotage probably features one of the lowest replay values in terms of sheer entertainment content. There aren't really any good one-liners, the action is crisply delivered but ultimately rather routine, and it's one of those movies that, once the secret's out of the bag, there's not much reason to go back to it multiple times, save for a second watch to look for any clues that may have been missed the first time around. In short, it's definitely worth checking out but it probably won't rocket to the top of all that many people's "best of Arnold" list, if only for the sheer volume of great films on his resumé. Universal's Blu-ray release of Sabotage delivers strong video and quality audio. The supplements are a little on the thin side but get the job done. Worth a rental for sure and perhaps a purchase at a sale price for Arnold movie collectors. Either way, be sure to check it out. This is a high quality film all around.

[CSW] -2.6- This is more a mystery-thriller that actually offers Arnold Schwarzenegger and the cool ensemble a chance to act and not just shoot guns. If your sole requirement for a "good" Schwarzenegger film is bullets, blood, and cigar smoke then head out to the theater now as this is the movie for you. This is much darker and more realistic than most action movies. This one shows all sides of the drug war and all are corrupt and treacherous. It's not for people who just want a shoot-em-up with good guys and bad guys. There are no good guys. The overall story never seemed be able to find what it was about, and the ending was a bit of a fizzle as were the alternate endings. It was a little too dark for my tastes but the mystery kept me riveted.
[V4.5-A4.0] MPEG-4 AVC -No D-Box motion codes were available at the time of this rental although they are available now.


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