Michael Bay certainly hasn’t done himself any favours when it comes to making movies over the last few years; his directorial time has solely been consumed by the Transformers franchise. Initially, there were great expectations for Transformers; say what you like about Bay, but he can sure as hell shoot an action scene. With the involvement of Spielberg, the first Transformers was a financial success, and it certainly was nowhere near as bad as Revenge of the Fallen… Then came the Dark Side of the Moon.
It wasn’t always bad with Bay though. Sure, he was no Scorsese but he certainly made a particular type of film that was generally hated by the critics, but loved by the audiences. Armageddon, although completely over-dramatic and far too schmaltzy, is the kind of bad film you love to hate. The same can be said of Bad Boys and Pearl Harbour, although far too heavy on the love story, had that amazing bomb sequence.
A fan of the slowmo, those big action scenes and generally blowing stuff up, Bay’s choice for directing Pain & Gain came a little out of left of field. The film had been confirmed back as far as the second Transformers, but Bay put the project on hold when the Dark Side of the Moon was announced. Bay claimed he was really looking forward to the “character driven piece”.
Based on a true story, the film follows a trio of bodybuilders who set out to fulfil their ambitions in life, essentially to live out the American Dream. Unfortunately, their ambition is to be fairly rich and they collectively decide they will not be able to achieve this goal considering their current station.
Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) the ringleader of the entire venture, decides to kidnap one of the particularly rich clients at his place of work, the Sun Gym. In order to follow through with the plan, he decides he will need some muscle, in this case, some fairly easily manipulated muscle in the form of Paul Doyle (The Rock) who has just left prison and found Jesus, and another gym buddy, Adrian Doorbal.
The plan is simple, kidnap the rich client, cut ties with his family and get him to sign over everything in his possession. Of course, nothing goes to plan, and even though Lugo promises no one will get hurt, the trio soon find themselves in over their heads.
Let’s get something straight, Pain & Gain is no masterpiece, far from it and it is arguably one of the most offensive films you will see, especially if you get insulted quite easily. But this film will appeal to those who have that little bit of a darker sense of humour. We’re talking South Park type of humour.
However, you are made aware from the outset that these guys are complete idiots and not to be taken seriously, their plan is beyond farce, Johnson’s Doyle is one of the stupidest film characters to ever make it to screen and how exactly they thought they could get away this is beyond belief. But believe it, it is based on a true story. As a piece, Pain & Gain certainly says a lot about attaining the American Dream.
As the film spirals downwards further into complete madness, two things become apparent, the script is funny when it sure as hell shouldn’t be and Dwayne Johnson is the star. His collection of Jesus loving t-shirts make the film itself, his approach to the entire kidnapping is hilarious and bewildering; we have never seen him quite make fun of himself like this and he certainly seems to be enjoying it.
The one big problem is the length, just when you think things should be wrapping up you become painfully (no pun intended) aware of how much more screen time there actually is.
Don’t forget about being insulted easily, because it’s sexist, racist and just downright stupid but if you’re into that kind of humour, Pain & Gain is totally worth it.
