Sabotage Review

Sabotage (2014)

Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington, Terrence Howard
Director: David Ayer
Country: USA
Genre: Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller
Official Site: Here

Editor’s Notes: Sabotage opens in wide theatrical release today, March 28th. 

The 80s were a simpler time for an action star. Foreign accents and mumbled dialogue rendered the need for respectable acting abilities a distant second to mountains of muscles. Schwarzenegger, Stallone, and Van Damme ruled the box office under a flurry of punches, sweat, and torrential gunfire. These films were assuredly ridiculous, but they possessed an awareness delivering high body counts with tongues firmly and perpetually in cheek. They were entertaining, over-the-top extravaganzas that were happily as artificial as that molten liquid that drips from your popcorn. When the musclebound stars of yesterday were looking to reignite the 80s action flame, I welcomed it with open arms; disappointment followed close behind. If Sabotage is the type of film Arnold wants to make now, then I want no part.

Sabotage has no idea what kind of film it is supposed to be. The lack of direction is evident from the offset. 

The DEA Special Operations Team specializes in infiltrating drug organizations and swiftly dismantling them. Led by John “Breacher” Wharton (Arnold Schwarzenegger), the team’s decidedly unprofessional style is forgiven for their ability to produce results. However, when the team decides to reap the benefits of their proximity to piles of money, it all gets complicated. Their stolen money goes missing before they even get the chance to split it up, and they are all suspended. Months later, members of the team start showing up as victims of grisly murders. The team attempts to figure out just who is responsible, with the hope of not being the next one on the list.

Sabotage has no idea what kind of film it is supposed to be. The lack of direction is evident from the offset. Over the course of the film’s first 15 minutes, the timeline has been fast-forwarded not once, but twice; amounting to a total of 14 months of lost time. The transitions are not executed well, with fades to black that imply a dreamlike confusion when a sense of definition is necessary. The opening shot of a distraught Breacher watching the torture of his loved ones is an odd foot to start on. However, an awkward beginning transforms into a meaningless attention grabbing ploy when the importance of this moment is not revisited until the film’s final act, at which point it is basically repeated. The effort is an attempt to show the fragility of Breacher, and his role as a man with nothing left to lose; but, it is so vague that we are left to only assume what is going on. Without even an outline of character development, this attempt at shading misses the mark entirely, and starts the film in a lost space.

The film falls into line with a crop of 80s revivals that has lost touch with its core competencies. Perhaps it was time, the gradual jading of society, or some misplaced urged to be taken seriously; but these 80s revival pieces are just not any fun.

The film falls into line with a crop of 80s revivals that has lost touch with its core competencies. Perhaps it was time, the gradual jading of society, or some misplaced urged to be taken seriously; but these 80s revival pieces are just not any fun. They revel in the explosions and bloodshed of their predecessors but remove the good graces, the spots of levity, and winking comedy. Instead they trade one-liners for grit and attempts at serious politics. The last thing audiences were clamoring for from the likes of Stallone and Schwarzenegger was reality. They were symbols of excess and cinematic action, equipped with guns of never depleting ammunition and an inhuman ability to stand right next to an explosion. Attempting to shoehorn gravity into these proceedings is alienating and leaves an audience with no other choice but accept the distaste. Sabotage is as grotesque as 2008’s Rambo, but with hopes to emanate the joviality of The Expendables. The problem is that neither of those films were satisfying, and by attempting to capture elements of the both, it merely doubles the derision.

Even if there was a modern film with the ability to balance the enjoyable disconnect of 80s era action with grounded real world issues, it certainly would need to be smarter than Sabotage. The plot is a complete an utter mess, written with the finesse of an ADD afflicted eight-year-old with a disrespect for all that he comes in contact with. The characters somehow all manage to be both bold caricatures and improperly defined. They tout out their tough sounding nicknames and like Care Bears, we are led to believe that these will be enough to understand them. However, even with character names like Pyro and Monster, they are more confusing than defining, as not a single one comes to embody nor even perform the actions contained within his name. It is appropriate that the cast is made up of “that guys”, nameless and generic with a hint of familiarity, for that is all that they are in the film. They all exist as shells of testosterone acting in service of a misguided plot with no authenticity to their directionless actions.

Sabotage is barely coherent enough to even be considered a complete film. This is a marked step backward for director David Ayer, whose previous effort, End of Watch, possessed such confidence in its visual aesthetic. This film is never sure enough to stick with its method for capturing images. Its use of multiple different filming techniques contributes to the film’s lack of cohesion, adding nothing of substance to the proceedings, and making it look like vignettes captured by multiple amateurs. This is all in service to a script that is written to inspire a whole list of “-ists”, including, but certainly not limited to, classist, sexist, and racist. On top of that, there is not one performance that shines as better than serviceable, overflowing with accents so inconsistent that Arnold’s steadfast Austrian is the only one to rely upon. Sabotage is hateful towards its characters and its audience. It is not a film to be enjoyed, leaving you feeling dirty and used up. If you manage to stay until the credits begin to roll, you will only be left with disappointment in yourself. A smarter person would have had the good sense to walk out earlier.