Sabotage (2014): Review

I went and saw this movie last week and although I thought it was better then i imaged it would be, I didn't have internet in my new apartment and then procrastinated writing it.  Now that I am getting around to it I would recommend that anyone who likes action movies and this type of film see it when it comes out on DVD/television because although it was pretty standard it wasn't as cookie cutter as some other films of the same flavor.
Sabotage is the new Arnold Schwarzenegger movie and I think that overall he does a good job and this movie kept my interest throughout and went more for a seeder feel then some of the other recent action movies of this type which have been going more toward the weary protagonist.  In this Arnold plays John "Breacher" Wharton the head of a DEA task force that specializes in installing themselves in drug organizations to take them down.  The movie starts with Breacher's team taking down a drug cartel and in doing so steal ten million dollars from the cash store.  When the team goes to get the money they find that it has been stolen from them. They have to pull it together and act like nothing happens when the DEA suspect them of stealing the money. When the investigation is dropped for lack of evidence Breacher pulls his team back together but everything is not how it seems.  The team is being targeted and taken down and they do not know who it is who is targeting them, could it be the DEA or the drug cartel?  This movie also stars Sam Worthington, Joe Manganiello, Josh Holloway, Terrence Howard, Max Martini, Kevin Vance, and Mireille Enos as Breacher's Team as well as Olivia Williams and Harold Perrineau as the investigators of the teams deaths.

This movie went for gritty and seedy but to me it didn't quite pull it off as it was too shiny around the edges and had high production value.  This would usually be a good thing but as it felt like the grit was wanted and to see how the team really embraces the criminal and drug world which the team had immersed themselves in.  There is lots of swearing, sex, strippers, drug use, etc.  This movie really went for the feel they wanted but didn't quite capture it.

I really liked the cast and how all the actors played off of each other. I especially liked Olivia Williams as Agent Caroline and thought that her character was very interesting to watch and I was invested in her journey of discovery.  I think that the feel of team was there between the actors of Breacher's team and that the dynamics of the team was looked at but I think that they quickly added back story without filling it in to give the motivation for decisions some of the characters made that seemed to be put in because the motivation was needed but there wasn't enough to have gone through any of the emotions of those characters.
I tend to like crappy action movies and really like this resurgence of older action stars in movies as their curmudgeonly and beaten down old selves.  It seems that when the movies go for more serious they are more successful and I believe that this one was one of the ones that worked pretty well.  It stuck to basic story's but wasn't as cookie cutter that I thought it was just phoned in.  It tired really hard for the group dynamics and character interactions which I appreciated, as well as the actin and fight sequences.

My Rating: 2-