Director: Michael Bay
Writer: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely (Screenplay) Pete Collins (Story)
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris, Rob Corddry, Bar Paly, Rebel Wilson, Ken Jeong
Plot: Tired of his everyday job at the gym Daniel Lugo (Wahlberg) gets the motivation to make him rich. Daniel has a plan but first he needs a team he recruits Adrian (Mackie) and born again Christian Paul (Johnson) both bodybuilders from his gym. The plan is to take Victor Kershaw’s (Shalhoub) life but things don’t go to plan.
Verdict: A funny action comedy
Story: A good action comedy that shows how a simple plan can get completely out of control. Each character brings a unique take to the situation. It shows how greed can take over some people’s lives leading them to do crazy things. Even though the story comes off dumb, it is very fun and the first time in a long time we have seen a comedy heist going wrong film. I did like how every character is telling how they felt in the situation while it happens on front of us. (8/10)
Actor Review: Mark Wahlberg – Daniel the mastermind behind the plan, very driven. Very good performance from Mark showing how he can handle comedy and action, mixing everything together. Smooth Talker Award (8/10)
Actor Review: Dwayne Johnson – Paul the born again Christian who only agrees to help if the job is nonviolent. Dwayne (Faster) is great in this role showing how he is a great comical character even with his action star build. Scene Stealer Award, Favourite Character Award, Comic Relief Award, Funniest Character Award (9/10)
Actor Review: Anthony Mackie – Adrian a bodybuilder who takes the chance to be part of the team and tries to start a new romance at the same time. Good supporting role trying to be more serious but also having to come off a bit more simple. (8/10)
Actor Review: Tony Shalhoub – Victor rich guy who gets kidnapped and his life has stolen. Great performance from a great character actor who easily stands up to the same level as the A-listers in the film. (8/10)
Director Review: Michael Bay – This guy has a reputation of being lazy with his over the top action taking away the story but this works well showing a better story for what we are used to. Hopefully he will give us some more good well told stories like this is the future. (8/10)
Action: Not too much action mostly short simple action scenes. (6/10)
Comedy: Some very funny scenes that gets funnier nearer to the end of the story. (8/10)
Crime: Good crime story throughout. (8/10)
Believability: Based on a true story but only loosely. (7/10)
Chances of Tears: No (0/10)
Settings: Miami is a great setting for this film showing the good and bad sides on the area. (9/10)
Suggestion: I would be suggest this to all fans of the switch off and enjoy a film fans it is simple to follow and easy to watch. It will give you some good laughs but not too many to take away a more serious side to the story. (Try It)
Best Part: Everything going wrong with the second heist.
Worst Part: Focusing on making the bad guys the heroes a bit too much.
Funniest Scene: Paul barbeques evidence in public.
Trivia: Dwayne Johnson bulked up to nearly 300lbs for the role
Oscar Chances: No
Chances of Sequel: No
Overall: Good action comedy film
Rating
3 replies on “Pain & Gain (2013)”
[…] Yolanthe Cabau (Pain & Gain) […]
Nice review Darren. It’s definitely one of Bay’s most original movies, but that’s still not saying much as its odd in terms of its tone. Which wouldn’t have been such a problem had this been based on an actual, real-life event, with actual, real-life people, but it is, and that’s why this flick feels a bit mean-spirited.
yeah, it was good to see bay can do a film without over the top action but he proved again he makes the supporting cast more interesting than the lead, like mark character next to the rocks and in past films john turturro stole every scene in transformers, steve buscemi in armageddon, even in the island the leads were boring compared to the rest of the cast