*Originally written June 11th, 2015*
Pain and Gain is a film that shows people can still surprise you. That person being Michael Bay, one of the worst directors of all-time, a man responsible for some of the biggest cinematic abortions of our time: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Bad Boys 2, and the very worst of them all... Transformers: Age of Extinction. He's a director whose films are bombastic, tasteless, racist, disgusting, obnoxious and portray women in a way that sends films back to the stone age.
I have no idea what happened here, but Pain and Gain is great. It's funny, it's violent and the story is interesting throughout. It tells the true story (The film even reminds you that when the more disturbing and crazy things happen) of Daniel Lugo and his American dream ambitions which involve kidnap and extortion. These things get out of had and the kidnap escalates to murder and torture.
It may seem tasteless, taking these horrible events and putting into a film that is mostly a comedy. While it certainly is an acquired taste if you're able to laugh at something this dark. It worked for me, but there will certainly be people who find this offensive and disgusting.
The film has the usual Michael Bay flare and trademarks, as much as I hate him, I can't knock him for his visual style. It opens with a super slow-motion shot of the end of the film, accompanied by an excellent score, which was done by the guy who did the music for the Transformers films and a lot of other garbage. He must have been on a good day as well.
The cast are excellent. This is probably Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's first real acting performance. He is probably the closest thing we have to a likeable character here, you feel sorry for him because he's an ex-con trying to change. Mark Wahlberg is great here too, playing an asshole, who you root for (Mostly)
If you only have to see one Michael Bay film in your life, make it this one. Pain and Gain might be a little much for some, but it's a blast and a lot of fun. There's an argument for this being absolutely tasteless and offensive, turning these horrific crimes into a satirical swipe at the American Dream, but I feel that's what Bay was aiming for, and he succeeded well.
8/10 Dans
Pain and Gain is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:
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