Runtime:
129 minutes
Directed
by: Michael Bay
Starring:
Mark Wahlberg, The Rock, Anthony Mackie, Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris
From:
Paramount
Last
night I went to a drive-in in Lakeland. Yes, some are still around,
and I've been to the Silver Moon a handful of times since I moved to
Florida. They've been around since the late 40's, if you can believe
it. I decided to see this film and another one. I'll talk about the
other one tomorrow afternoon, but I did not enjoy that as much as I
liked this, that is for sure.
The
plot: It is based on a true story-how much of it was true, I don't
know; I hope it was almost all factual as how could you make up such
bizarre details unless it was true?-of a trio of bodybuilders
(Wahlberg, Rock, Mackie) who decide to kidnap a rich A-hole
(Shalhoub) in order to get a quick payday, as all three feel they are
entitled to be rich and famous, and while they are quite ambitious,
their intelligence does not match their ambition at all and that
results in many complications and there's a comedy of errors as they
end up in really strange situations.
I
understand why this motion picture isn't for everyone. This is a real
sordid tale and as told, most of the people you come across are
various degrees of D-bag and A-hole. Ed Harris and his private
detective character at least is a normal old guy who is dedicated to
his job and doing it well. I am able to get over the characters but I
do get why that would be an issue for some people, if not a lot of
people. I was also entranced by the story as before the movie I had
no knowledge of the true story so I was always interested in seeing
where it would end up and why at the beginning you see part of the
ending and Marky Mark running away from the cops.
I
also get why people wouldn't care for the over the top way this was
told. It's in your face and crazy but to me it seems to fit the
story, between all the narration you hear from the characters (as if
it was Goodfellas or something) and the graphics that sometimes
appear. It seems to be appropriate for this kind of over the top
story. I usually don't care for Bay's films (to put it nicely; most
of them aren't worthy of being seen by me) but he and his bombastic
nature seems like a good fit for this real life horror story.
Again,
I get why this is for acquired tastes. The story you see told here is
quite horrifying, as the bodybuilders end up doing some repugnant
gross things to try and make it rich and keep their dough. But for me
and how I tend to dig darkly comic tales (even the real dark ones), I
happened to enjoy this quite a bit, a surprise given what I think of
Michael Bay in general. There are nice performances all around (Marky
Mark, The Rock, and Shalhoub stand out the most to me) and now I am
going to start to read this epic-length article on the true story.
Like
I said, I'll be back Thursday afternoon.
Good review Blair. It is insanely entertaining, and it feels good to be a do-er. Except if you’re a family of the real-life dead; then you may be a bit upset.
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