Michael Bay’s latest, Pain & Gain, is definitely more PAIN .
In his new film,Pain & Gain, director Michael Bay may have found his cinematic soul mate.
It is set in hisBad Boyshometown of Miami.
It features beefy musclemen driving fast cars, living fast lives.
What could go wrong?
All the women are either strippers or overweight and must be condescended to via Mark Wahlbergs voiceover.
Both ruggedly ripped heroes share an unmanly hug.
But the real reason the whole project feels so dirtily uneven is that its not the stuff of comedy.
As the film proudly reminds you several times throughout, this is based on a true story.
One of murder, extortion, torture and extreme violence.
Yet, I wonder if he realizes that hes the only one laughing.
He adores the rags-to-riches story ofScarfaceand believes in hard work almost as much as he believes in physical perfection.
He is such a believer that he is humbled when he gets a second chance at Sun Gym.
It could have been the perfect crime if they did not suck so bad at killing him.
With Kershaw seemingly out of the picture, they move into his abandoned home and live the high life.
They finally got that American dream they deserve.
There is a great, terrible story of greed, ambition and horror in these true events.
It is a harrowing criminal story.
They certainly soften the image of everyone involved.
There is no mention of Lugos real-life wives who he was cheating on with that stripper.
He is also not seen scamming Medicare while making America a better place by murdering other rich people.
Hell, they conflate some of the worst participants into a charmingly grinning Johnson.
For all his visual flair, Bays talents are strictly superficial.
Supposedly, there is some sort of an Occupy Wall Street, anti-elite window-dressing to all this.
Bay has no interest in that 99 percent crap.
His movies are an ideological rejection of it.
So, he goes through the motions to set-up his Robin Hood dynamic.
Once kidnapped, he makes a knock about high school graduates who dont go to college being losers.
Lets get back to shots of that Miami sunset and Wahlbergs glittering muscles.
Michael Bay is not a hack.
He knows exactly what his movies trade in and usually delivers it well.
Like all his films,Pain & Gainis visually eye-popping and fun to look at.
Of course, that could just be the lighting.
Rating:
2 out of 5
