Pain & Gain Review

I don't even know where to start when talking about Michael Bay. His directorial resume is a smattering of awesome and absolutely shit. He never really hits the middle of the pack for me. I either really love his films (Bad Boys II, The Island, and The Rock), or I want to murder him for wasting my precious time (Pearl Harbor, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.) Bay has become synonymous with explosions and over-the-top action, and it's really becoming obnoxious how much he plays up to that ridiculous stereotype. While he isn't a terrible director, I've always thought that he needed the right project (preferably something where even he couldn't add unnecessary explosions) to really show off his directing chops. I think Pain & Gain was that opportunity.

Pain & Gain is the surprisingly true story of Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) and the crimes he commits to gain a ridiculous amount of wealth. He and his friends, Paul (Dwayne Johnson) and Adrian (Anthony Mackie), decide to kidnap and extort a millionaire (Tony Shalhoub). I won't spoil anything here, but, needless to say, shenanigans ensue. This movie is in no way a serious film. It is a pseudo-comedy that border on the dark comedy genre, but doesn't quite make it there. It is more of a farce than a dark comedy, but I digress.

I think that this movie was really written for Bay's unique direction style. It feels like a return to form (a la Bad Boys) in that he so perfectly captures the feel and tone of Florida. As always, he is using really awkward camera angles to show us...normal things. He uses his usual first person view for a total of three or four shots. And the look of the film is the same as it always is: odd. I really don't know what it is about Bay's films, maybe he uses a specific filter, or films all of his movies in the same exact place, but they all have that same weird look. I'm not saying it's bad, it's just undefinable to me. And let me not forget another great Bay trope: shitty female characters. This movie, like all it's predecessors, had no real female characters. The only two girls in this film were either: a) there for pure comedic relief and added nothing to the movie (Rebel Wilson) or b) a terrible stereotype of immigrant-turned-stripper-retard. I feel like it is a requirement for his to film a script that it have no strong female characters. Either that or he just cuts that part out whenever possible.

I think that the script for this movie was pretty decent, but was kind of irritating in some ways. I really thought that the script benefited the most from the fact that these people were real...and they were unbelievably stupid. All of the turns in the plot and character choices seem so ridiculous that you really wouldn't believe it if you didn't know it was true. It reminded me a lot of Compliance, but as a comedy instead of a messed up psychological film. These characters seem so unbelievable that I imagine writing this script was just so easy. Don't change anything...the true story is already pure gold! I must admit, though, I did find that the obscene amount of voice over to detract from the overall tone of the film. I'll admit that, at times, it was a good choice and important for plot/character development...but it was overused.

I thought the acting in this film was probably it's strongest element. In all honestly, Wahlberg might have been the weakest of the three male leads. And I think that says a lot. Dwayne Johnson and Anthony Mackie really nailed their roles in the movie. While I thought that Johnson's character was a little oddly written, and had some oddly quick character changes, I thought he was excellent. Whether it be his ridiculously religious character or his turn as a drug addict just looking for his next score, Johnson was always on. And Mackie was no different. His character so perfectly contrasted Johnson's to make it the perfect combination.

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This is a return to form for Bay, avoiding the obnoxious amounts of explosions that we have seen in his last three features and replacing them with hilarious characters and a too-good-to-be-true story. The biggest drawback of the film was the run time (129 minutes) which dragged in all of the transitional scenes (pretty much between all of the 'acts' in your traditional three act structure.) If this film had been 40 minutes shorter, it could have been one of Bay's best films. Instead, it has to settle for decent, but not great. 

Writing: 6.5/10

Directing: 6.5/10

Acting: 8/10

Pacing: 4/10

Rewatchability: 5.5/10

Score: 6.1/10