If you are expecting director David Ayer’s latest drug cartel-related action movie to soar like his previous efforts, you will be left cold and disappointed. Sabotage follows closely the exact template of story and style that makes End of Watch and Training Day a critical acclaimed, small hit but the Arnold Schwarzenegger starrer is clearly the odd one in the list here. Bogged down by extreme absurdity, plodding storyline and on-the-treadmill action, Sabotage is not as interesting or as engaging as it should be. After all, it was Skip Woods (A Good Day to Die Hard) who pen this.
In Sabotage, DEA-tact team lead by top brass Breacher (Arnold Schwarzenegger) swarms into the compound of a powerful drug nest and executes a high-stakes raid of $10 million for themselves. But the excruciating suspicion and scrutiny come when the money they embezzled is lost, putting the whole team under the microscope for months. When their charges are cleared for lack of credible evidences, one-by-one of the team members died under suspicious of foul play and possible revenge. Breacher is then, forced to work with Detective Brentwood (Olivia Williams) to solve the mystery.
There are so much problems in this movie yet there is nothing much to be discussed; simply because this B-rated action flick can be quite entertaining on occasions when the gritty violence component goes rampage. But let’s put it this way, Sabotage makes little sense and less creativity when it drives the mystery around and it seems that the plot is lazily connected. It does not make any better when the characters are lacking of proper chemistry, something that makes End of Watch interesting at all times.
In the end, Sabotage overstays the early welcome by being too sloppy, too lazy, too brainless and too pointless to follow; and the gritty violence does not help much at all.
In Sabotage, DEA-tact team lead by top brass Breacher (Arnold Schwarzenegger) swarms into the compound of a powerful drug nest and executes a high-stakes raid of $10 million for themselves. But the excruciating suspicion and scrutiny come when the money they embezzled is lost, putting the whole team under the microscope for months. When their charges are cleared for lack of credible evidences, one-by-one of the team members died under suspicious of foul play and possible revenge. Breacher is then, forced to work with Detective Brentwood (Olivia Williams) to solve the mystery.
There are so much problems in this movie yet there is nothing much to be discussed; simply because this B-rated action flick can be quite entertaining on occasions when the gritty violence component goes rampage. But let’s put it this way, Sabotage makes little sense and less creativity when it drives the mystery around and it seems that the plot is lazily connected. It does not make any better when the characters are lacking of proper chemistry, something that makes End of Watch interesting at all times.
In the end, Sabotage overstays the early welcome by being too sloppy, too lazy, too brainless and too pointless to follow; and the gritty violence does not help much at all.
"Sabtoage" stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington, Terrence Howard, Josh Holloway and Mireille Enos; presented by Open Road Film (via Nusantara Edaran Filem); directed by David Ayer ("End of Watch") from screenplay by Ayer and Skip Woods ("A Good Day to Die Hard"). The movie is rated 18 and is released in Malaysia since April 3, 2014. The movie runs about 100 minutes.
MY RATING:
Story: 2.5
Casts: 3.0
Cinematography: 3.5
Effects: 3.0
GREEN-TEA-O-METER: 11.0/20.0