Gritty action flick very much in the nihilist vein of late 60s early 70s Sam Peckinpah - cops are corrupt or looking to cover their arse or actual killers, drug cartels torture and rape, innocent bystanders get run over and shot in car chases. It's full on and David Ayers gets marks for ensuring his movie has integrity - even if its bleak look at humanity is grim going at times.
For the most part I got into this though - the tough bantering dialogue (though the swearing got monotonous - I'm not anti swearing I just wish a little more imagination had been used), the fast paced plot, the intensity of the action, the way women are allowed to be as tough as the men, the quality of most of the acting, the star turn by Marielle Enos as a ballsy agent, the by play between Olivia Williams and Harold Perrineau.
There were two flaws for me. Firstly was the casting of Arnold Schwarzengger. He does everything he's asked to do and really tries and it's a novelty to see him in this kind of role... but he's simply miscast. We've seen, read and heard too much about Arnie being so self motivated and positive and noble - he simply can't convey the edge, corruption, loss, and darkness of this character. It needed someone with real darkness, like Tommy Lee Jones or Nick Nolte or Gene Hackman. Arnie is basically too upset a person and not good enough an actor to get into the skin of the character the way he needs to. (He would have been better off in the Olivia Williams part).
Secondly was the fact the film feels like two stories awkwardly meshed: Arnie seeking revenge for the murder and torture of his wife, and DEA people stealing money and then being killed off one by one. They try to link them but it didn't work for me - so the last act felt like an epilogue, or a scene from another movie. It's like there should have been two films - Arnie looking for revenge, and a sequel where he and his team steal money.
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