A Review To "Sabotage" Your Labor Day Holiday

Sabotage (2014)
Rated R for language and bloodshed galore

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington, Joe Manganiello, Josh Holloway, Terrence Howard, Mireille Enos,

Written and Directed by David Ayer

The Story:

DEA Agent Breacher (Schwarzenneger) leads his team on a raid.  During the raid, they decide to steal $10 million off the top of a stack of cash.  However when they go to retrieve it, it's missing!  They are suspended and investigated, but nobody on the team admits to stealing (and losing) the money, and eventually they are put back together as a unit.  Then, one by one, they start getting murdered by the drug lords they stole from.
Will they be able to find the murderer before it's too late?

Indifference.

That's what this movie ultimately ended up being for me.

It was a great cast, given not a whole lot to do except shoot, bleed and curse a lot.

In fact, some of the bloodshed and ways they were killed, this movie seemed like it wanted to crossover into borderline horror movie territory.

Any intrigue on who took the money, who is going to die next on the team erodes as the film moves along.

When the ultimate villain is revealed, it comes as more of a "well duh" moment, than a twist of the knife reveal to the team.

It could've been something special.

Instead, it was just something.

I'll take The Last Stand any day over this one as proof that Ah-nuhld can still make a fun movie.

Final Grade: C

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: No fun...no reason to see it again... I'd have to pass on seeing this one again.

My Money's On the Big Guy... "The Last Stand"

He always said he'd be back...

The Story:

Sheriff Ray Owens (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is in charge of a small town just across from Mexico.  There's not a lot of crime... really, there's not a lot of anything to worry about.  So when FBI Agent
Bannister (Forest Whitaker) loses a drug cartel figurehead (Gabriel Cortez) in a high speed chase through the desert, there's only one town that stands between the fugitive and freedom.

Welcome back, Ah-nuhld, you didn't miss a beat.

I have no gripes with this movie whatsoever.  It's an action flick designed for Arnold's return, and as such, it fits very nicely in with the rest of his body of work.  Better than many of his films, not as good as the classics.

No shame there, for any actor.

As he showed in his extended cameos in the Expendables franchise, the man obviously still has a few action flicks up his muscled sleeves before he calls it a career.

They also make sure that he's surrounded with some comic relief in the form of a deputy (Luis Guzman) and town eccentric (Johnny Knoxville) whose penchant for weaponry will naturally come into play before the movie is over.

I don't think there are any real surprises to be had in the film, as it follows the by-the-numbers approach to most action films to a  "t".

Again, I don't have any problems with that, and if you want to see Arnold still kicking butt at the age of 92, here you go!

Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I would be willing to watch it again, and if I find it for a decent price, I could own it someday.