Sabotage (2014) Review
Release date: March 28, 2014
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington, Olivia Williams, Terrence Howard, Joe Manganiello
Director: David Ayer
Screenwriters: Skip Woods, David Ayer
Runtime: 109 minutes
From the director who brought us Training Day and End of Watch, or so it says on the cover. Sabotage wants to exist in the same world as those serious dramatic films while simultaneously being advertised as a fast-paced Arnold shoot em’ up. These two kinds of movies are not only different, but they are polar opposites, and they mix about as well as oil and water.
Those looking for an intense Training Day style experience will find this simplistic and derivative. Those looking for a classic Arnold action movie will find it dreadfully boring. And boring is the last thing a Schwarzenegger movie should ever be. Say what you will about Arnold’s filmography, and I have plenty to say, but boring is rarely one of the criticisms you can level at it. Until this one.
Arnold plays the leader of a corrupt DEA unit with a habit of skimming off the top. Every single character in this film is unlikable, which creates a unique problem: when they start dying off one by one, I do not care who is responsible. I am just anxious for whoever it is to hurry up, because the fewer characters remaining means less time I have to spend watching this thing.
I grew up on classic Arnold. Commando, Raw Deal, Predator. Those movies have a place in my heart that nothing is going to dislodge.
If you are in the mood for a newer Schwarzenegger film with that same half-serious, half-campy energy, go watch The Last Stand from 2013. That was Arnold in his element. Here, he has not looked this out of his element since he somehow got himself elected Governor of California.
Sabotage should have been renamed Career Sabotage. That title would have at least been honest about what it was doing.
Sabotage gets a one out of five: BAD.
