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Sabotage (2014), R, ★★

Arnold's BACK in action...again.
Arnold Schwarzenegger. He's the man who could do his job and terminate (yeah, it's a pun) anybody who gets in his way...well, only in the movies. Ha-ha. But, every Arnold fan knew he was returning to films because he provides adrenaline and testosterone to the screen. I mean, take a look back at his career: The Terminator movies, True Lies, Predator, Commando, Eraser, Kindergarten Cop, etc. Some of the movies listed are very good action flicks. But, this movie has to be one of his most forgettable movies in his resumé.

John "Breacher" Wharton (Schwarzenegger) is the leader of a DEA team consisting of: James "Monster" Murray (Sam Worthington), Joe "Grinder" Phillips (Joe Manganiello), Eddie "Neck" Jordan (Josh Holloway), Julius "Sugar" Edmonds (Terrence Howard), Tom "Pryo" Roberts (Max Martini), Bryce "Tripod" McNeely (Kevin Vance), "Smoke" Jennings (Mark Schlegel), and Lizzy (Mireille Enos). Breacher takes his team to a safe house to seize the unknown amount of money that is inside, according to the DEA team leader.

After Lizzy distracted a man giving cocaine to her and killed him, the team get out their full tactical gear to storm the team and she tells them where the money is. After killing multiple bad guys, they find the large crate of money and Breacher tells the team to collect it and also put some of the money in a sewer pipeline to grasp later on. But later that night when Breacher and his team come back to the same location, the money that was in the sewer pipeline is gone. The whole team goes completely nuts.

Two agents and the agency interrogate Breacher and his team and later when the agent asks him whether he stole the money, then, he suspects that one of his members might have stole the money. The quest is on to see who is behind this scheme.

The team holding somebody in captivity.
This movie is just cornball action. I do not know what each actor saw in this script besides David Ayer's record of terrific cop pictures such as Training Day and End of Watch. It seems like he does not know how to direct a picture or create something fresh or original with the story and characters. Plus, it seems that the filmmakers focus entirely on the action and the violence, which the latter goes way over-the-top with fake blood and guts. The movie gets sickening, disturbing, and unwelcoming. Breacher's backstory is also dark.

Arnold Schwarzenegger plays tough, hard-core and fun characters who persuades the audience to have a great time and enjoy the movie. His character is hard-core and tough, but Breacher is a vulnerable and twisted character. Does that prove that Arnold has risen above the challenge in terms of new ground? Well, no, because he still gets stilted and corny dialogue. But, this is one of his most interesting performances. Olivia Williams plays Brentwood, an agent who supplies information, breaks accent and is inconsistent. The others play formulaic characters, but I was a bit entranced by Mireille Enos' twisted performance.

Despite the many formulaic action and fighting scenes, the mystery is uninteresting and not compelling. However, I did not see the twist coming because the storyline does not really provide the mystery until about 10-15 minutes to go. Plus, the twist is a bit unethical and a bit nonsensical. The process of eliminating characters is a tad insulting not trusting the viewer to think who stole the money. It's basically whoever is left and this person did it. I was disappointed in David Ayer, who is capable of making compelling movies. The shaky-cam effects and gruesome violence interferes between the experience and myself. On balance, the performances are fine, and it has some moments of fun, but the movie is full of seemless rage and incomprehensible logic.

**

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