Pain & Gain (2013), R, 2.5 stars

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Anthony Mackie and Mark Wahlberg.

When you have a large bodybuilding crew who plans to try and commit criminal activities, a person has to think twice to better stop them and fight them or just simply just fight them. I don't know. But, Michael Bay, the director fresh from his over-the-top, noisy Transformers trilogy, decides to take a step backward and let the actors have a little comedic action with some routine action that is just pure signature from Bay.

Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) is a convict who was released for committing Medicare fraud. His owner from the gym wants to have him hired and turn it into a more fitness-type of gym. Lugo increases his membership at the gym and meets Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie), who is another bodybuilder who uses steroids but causes erectile dysfunction.

When he attends a seminar hosted by a motivational speaker (Ken Jeong), he is galvanized by his speech and begins to extort Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub), who is a person in training and is rich with an awesome lifestyle full of women and "dough".

Daniel and Adrian recruit Paul Doyle (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), a convict who is also recently released but is seriously addicted to cocaine. He wants to avert from his past and practice religion. But, Lugo insists on carrying on with their mission to kidnap Kershaw. They unsuccessfully attempt it but they taser him outside his delicatessen. They transport him to his warehouse where it is filled with sexual and pleasurable objects. No matter how this extortion plan is going to go, you may not know how it is going to end for all characters.

I thought in a routine action movie everybody suppose to look away from the explosion.

It is a meticulously thoughtful project to consider, even if the movie is based on a true story. But, Michael Bay takes his characters and become crazy but to establish themselves what they have to do in the modern society of America. Wait a minute, what am I saying?

The kidnapping is hysterical because they do not know how to concavely initiate a plan. The criminals do not have the experience how to distinguish which car is Kerchak's. There is humor that satirically echoes the films of The Coen Brothers, such as Fargo and The Big Lebowski. Both of the movies are better than this film because of the way the writers establish and clarify the situation and making the story flow even if the scheme goes absolutely wrong. The contrast between both films is that there are consequences to both actions but, there are unexpected scenes and dialogue driven moments such as Frances McDormand's poetic monologue in Fargo while driving one of the criminals to the station.

I pretty much liked the first hour where the creators set up the characters and their motivation to do this extortion. Pretty much, the movie goes haywire and downhill with all the routine action and stupidity. Of course, there are trademarks from Michael Bay: the slow motion walking, the explosions, and the rapid editing. But, it takes a little away from the story but at least, it has a satirical balance.

Walhberg and Mackie are just right for the roles, but Dwayne Johnson gives an interesting performance. He grows and matures quite well as an actor delivering presence, promise, skill and vulnerability. He's committing the act that he does not want to commit. He's pretty much a character that we want to sympathize. Ed Harris has a juicy role as a detective delivering some funny dialogue. He looks like he's having a blast. Rebel Wilson has some moments as Mackie's girlfriend, even in one scene where it looks like she was afraid to do after the guy said "Take 1". I won't reveal that, though.

Michael Bay creates an uneven piece of a darker, humorous aspect of American society. But, it shows us that a director can make a close to a good movie with this material without overexposing the project with style. It's a pretty subtle movie in comparison with his works. He has a knack for tackling this kind of story with intelligence. However, I did enjoy half and disliked the other half. So, it's a close call, but my thoughts are negative on this movie. But, whoever wants to see this, consider this movie a rental to get at Netflix, Redbox, or whatever Blockbuster store is still open.

**1/2