I guess it was time to put the R back in Arnold.
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“Sabotage” is the latest film in the Arnold Schwarzenegger comeback tour, this time about a gnarly team of DEA agents who have their trust and lives threatened when a plan of theirs goes south. And boy does it ever go south… in some of the most graphic and brutally violent ways you could ever imagine… but probably wouldn’t want to. Which would be one thing if the movie actually succeeded on other levels, or needed the gore to make some sort of story point. But, no, it seems to just exist if for no other reason than to make the audience uncomfortable and want to get out of the theater as quickly as possible. Not that it’s the only thing seemingly moving us towards that goal.
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First there’s the acting, which is over the top and laughable throughout most of the movie, so much so, that at times Arnold seems like the understated one. I mean it’s probably his best post gubernatorial performance, but honestly is that saying much? Then there’s the plot, a mish mash of every action cliche and overused device that you’ve ever seen with a “twist ending” whose only twist is that every single person watching the movie saw it coming within the first 20 minutes of the film. And I know it’s kinda secondary, but why is this movie called “Sabotage” where there is no sabotage in the movie?! I mean there’s backstabbing, trickery, and brutal violence, but no one actually sabotages anything! Or maybe that was just a clever reference to what the movie will do to your evening if you decide to see it. But the worst thing about the movie? Has to be the fact that there is absolutely no one and nothing to root for. This was about as vile a group of humans as I’ve seen on film and somehow we were supposed to what? identify with them? cheer them on? You’ld think the ending might give you a clue, but no, it’s as pointlessly violent and brutally depressing as the rest of the film. It’s like some sort of sick field trip to a slaughterhouse, where not only are you forced to watch how they kill the cows, but you don’t even get to enjoy a cheeseburger when all is said and done.
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Let’s see, did I forget anything? Oh right, the best thing. Well…. It was nice to see Michael and Sawyer from LOST back together again. Cause they were both in this… and they were also both in LOST… and I liked that show…
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Look, overall there just isn’t a lot good to say about Sabotage. Poor acting, poor writing, and poor plotting end up resulting in nothing more than a bloody mess. It’s only for the love of Walt that it escapes with a D.
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Thanks for checking out this Your Movie Friend review, stay tuned for this review’s “Best Ever” challenge here in bit but first, I’m going to put up some stuff you can click over in this area. If you’d like to subscribe, which I would much appreciate, you can do so by clicking the big gray subscribe button. Want to see more? You can click here to see a review for the biblical epic “Noah” or Wes Anderson’s latest, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”. You can also Click the logo up here to go to yourmoviefriend.com where you can search by title for reviews. And finally this review’s “Best Ever” Challenge, where you name the best movie ever in a particular category and also try to identify my choice. What is the “the best Arnold movie ever”. Mine’s the one with an oxymoron for the title. Drop your own answer and a guess at mine in the comments and first person to guess mine gets a point! Thanks and please subscribe!