Michael Bay is one of those directors that you either love or hate. His manic style of filmmaking, shaky camera work, frenetic pacing, choice of flash over substance, and inability to set up a shot always tends to hurt the narrative of his movies. His ineptitude has led to three terribly constructed Transformers films, as well as a botched historical epic (Pearl Harbor) and bad science fiction (The Island). In fact, some argue that he hasn’t made a good film since Bad Boys II, and I would take that argument further and say that he hasn’t made a great film since his debut effort Bad Boys.
Bay’s latest film, Pain & Gain, is a departure from the usual bombastic, over the top Sci-Fi tinged stories that have made up his resume in recent years. In getting back to the style of films that made him who he is (the aforementioned Bad Boys movies), Bay has found himself reconnecting with the star of promise we all saw when Will Smith and Martin Lawrence defended Miami from drug dealers. Pain & Gain represents a Michael Bay renaissance of sorts that works well.
Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Mackie, and Dwayne Johnson star as three bodybuilding giants who decide one day to pull off a crime caper. Wahlberg plays Daniel Lugo, a personal trainer at a small gym in Miami. He trains a successful businessman named Victor Kershaw, who is self-made and owns a Schlotzsky’s Deli out by the airport. As Daniel works with Kershaw, he learns all about the man’s life, including hidden off shore accounts and massive amounts of wealth and prosperity. Of course, Daniel decides that Kershaw needs to share and he sets forth a plan to kidnap Kershaw and force him to sign over all of his wealth to Daniel. It is, as Daniel puts it, “His American Dream.”
Lugo enlists the help of a steroid abusing, impotent fellow trainer named Adrian Doorbal (Mackie) to assist him, and to round out his gang, he convinces a reformed cokehead, now man of Jesus, Paul Doyle (Johnson) to join him on his quest to take what is rightfully theirs.
What follows is a wacky series of events that are actually all true. In fact, late in the film when Johnson’s Doyle is grilling human hands cut off from the victims, we are reminded that yes, this is all still a true story.
Pain & Gain is funny and sad, as Lugo’s motivations are misguided and Doyle and Doorbal both get sucked into his mad scheme. Bay and screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have crafted the definition of a black comedy as anything that can go wrong does go wrong, and the audience can’t help but to laugh, even though this really happened.
The performances really make the film. Wahlberg is Wahlberg, this time with muscles. There isn’t much for him to do other than say his lines, but he serves to set up his co-stars in every way.
Dwayne Johnson completely delivers as Paul Doyle. His reluctance to join the group, and later his sheer level of stupidity hurts them in almost every way (he’s even labeled in a title card as “The Weak Link”). After the heist and when the money starts to flow, Doyle quickly goes back to the blow and Johnson sells it really well.
Anthony Mackie is perhaps given the most to work with as a man driven to have the best body he can, even with steroids, but at the cost of his manhood (he’s impotent), which keeps him from perceived perfection. Then to add a crime caper over this aggravating personal dilemma, Mackie owns the Doorbal character. His performance is very reminiscent of Don Cheadle’s in Boogie Nights, which coincidentally also starred Wahlberg in the lead.
Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris, and Rob Corddry all turn in great performances in supporting roles, with Shalhoub’s Kershaw rising above the character as written and giving a perfect victim, who also happens to be an asshole who may or may not deserve everything he gets.
Pain & Gain fits well into the directing style of Michael Bay. Everything that I dislike about his technique works here, from the kinetic energy he gets from his scenes to the use of style over substance, which is a metaphor to the over-the-top actions of these body-obsessed criminals. This is Michael Bay at the top of his game. He should definitely stay away from big robot movies and focus on human crime dramas with a touch of humor. Oh, and they should all be set in South Florida. It’s where he does his best work.
Pain & Gain is a fun movie that excels in highlighting how a simple crime can go so very wrong, and how stupid people should never do anything that is above their station in life. It drips with black humor and the audience is left to watch without picking sides, as everyone involved in these events is shady to a fault. The performances carry the film, and Bay’s directing is actually a bonus here as everything comes together for an enjoyable film, even though you will be left wondering how much of it is truly true. From what I have gathered in my post viewing research, Bay and the writers weren’t lying. These events really happened, and that is the most shocking thing of all.
Pain & Gain is rated R and opened in theaters everywhere on Friday, April 26.
