Schwarzenegger hasn’t quite had the success that he garnered during his on-screen time in the late ’80s and early ’90s. As of late his films have been the same sort of thing involving him speaking very little and shooting lots of guns in wild and hard to believe circumstances. So, when Sabotage hit theaters not so long ago I thought nothing of the film and gave it a pass.
That was actually a shame as the film turned out to be one of his best in many, many years. In fact, I would throw it up there as one of the best of his career (at least in his post Governor era) with respects to action and acting. My Blu-Ray player doesn’t see a lot of action, so when Universal sent over a copy of the soon to be released SABOTAGE (Tue. July 22nd) I was happy to take it home to enjoy with some friends and family.
In the film Schwarzenegger (Last Action Hero, Twins,Hercules in New York) stars as the leader of an elite DEA task force whose members are targeted by a mysterious killer. The film is directed by David Ayer, who has previously directed End of Watch, and served as screenwriter on the award winning Training Day.
Sabotage centers on DEA agent Breacher Wharton (Schwarzenegger), who leads a daring raid on a heavily-armed drug cartel safe house. The raid seems to go off seamlessly, but when the agents involved start turning up dead, everyone is a suspect—even members of their own squad.
The film starts off with a flashback of some violent event before flashing back to present day during the the aforementioned raid on the cartel. What impressed me while watching was the amount of detail taken in trying to capture how a squad of elite DEA agents would function in a situation. They didn’t burst in guns akimbo, they didn’t unload hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and even more amazing is the fact that they didn’t all make it out unscathed.
While the action set pieces are impressive (if downright gruesome), you can clearly see when the budget didn’t allow for the realism that many of the big budget films have. Many times when bad guys get shot you can tell where after effects were used to simulate blood on the screen. If you don’t have the eye for these things (many didn’t while watching) you could easily miss them, but as someone who really notices CG effects they came off as a little cheap.
What is nice is that for a film of this nature the action wasn’t the main focus of the film. Sure, you are going to get the big cartel scene at the beginning of the film and the huge climax scene which was pretty impressive and could hold its own when compared to much larger productions, the film is mostly made up of seeing the interpersonal relationships between the team and how that “family” can break down when trust is broken.
Schwarzenegger is joined by an impressive supporting cast including Sam Worthington (Avatar, Clash of the Titans), Olivia Williams (Hanna on Dollhouse), Terrence Howard (Iron Man, Red Tails), Joe Manganiello (Magic Mike, How I Met Your Mother), Josh Holloway (Lost) and Mireille Enos (World War Z, The Killing).
Sam Worthington was the standout actor in the film, so much that it wasn’t until more than half way through Sabotage that I even realized it was him. It’s such a drastic departure from the characters I am used to seeing him play that it threw me for a loop. I (and a few others) went into Sabotage thinking it some throwaway film that we’d be able to figure out within the first fifteen or so minutes. What I didn’t expect was to have a room full of people questioning who was committing the titular sabotage. The writing is such that it leaves so many door open that when it finally hits at the end you may be surprised at the outcome.
Sabotage is a fun movie that shows Schwarzenegger still has some juice in the tank, especially if you give him a decent script to work with and a supporting cast that can supplement him. It’s not a great film by any means, but if you are looking for a good popcorn flick that doesn’t skimp on the action and throws a bit of intrigue into the mix this may be worth a look, or at the very least a rental.
BONUS FEATURES (BLU-RAY™ and DVD):
· Making Sabotage – a behind-the-scenes look at the production.
· Alternate Endings
· Deleted Scenes
The “Sabotage” Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack used in this review was provided by Universal Home Entertainment
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