There is no such
thing as a truly personal Michael Bay film. He may describe Pain & Gain as his “smaller passion project,” but he can only
allow himself to focus on the actual material for so long. Inevitably he must
throw in a pointless poop or sex joke in order to appease his inner 12-year-old
boy, and the actions scenes must be more anarchic than they are cohesive or intelligible. That said, Pain & Gain is
the best Michael Bay film to be released in many years, and there are stretches
of this movie where his considerable talents are actually being put to good
use. He is working with actual substance
here instead of taking the premise of “robots go boom” and stretching it out to
150-plus interminable minutes. When he gets down to business, he’s occasionally
able to make Pain & Gain sing.
The problem is the troubling way in which he chooses to color in the edges.
This is a definite step forward for Bay as an actual filmmaker, but his assaultive
and sophomoric style continues to irritate.
As the film
informs us twice, the events of Pain &
Gain are based on the true story of three bodybuilders from Miami’s Sun Gym
who are unhappy with their current financial and social situation. In particular there is ambitious trainer Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg), who decides to take matters into his
own hands. He eventually concocts a scheme that will leave him with every asset that
belongs to wealthy businessman Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub), who he believes to be a jerk and unworthy of his considerable wealth. He recruits the
Christian cocaine addict Paul (Dwayne Johnson) along with the steroid-loving
Adrian (Anthony Mackie) for a kidnapping plot that very quickly spins out of
control. Once all the dust settles, Detective Ed Du Bois (Ed Harris) is brought
in to try and bring everything into focus. Also appearing are Rebel Wilson as
Adrian’s girlfriend-turned-wife, Ken Jeong as motivational speaker Johnny Wu,
and Rob Corddry as Daniel’s boss.
Many have
compared the plot of Pain & Gain
to the Coens’ Fargo, and in many ways
it is the most Michael Bay-esque answer to that film you could have ever asked for. It takes everything that was un-Bay-like about the Coens' film—the frigid setting, the deliberate direction, the subtlety—and then
puts it right through the frenetic Bay filter. In a way, though, this story is
so absurd and over-the-top that a filmmaker like Bay may not have been the
worst choice. Pain & Gain should
probably take place in a slightly heightened universe, and there are times when
Bay absolutely nails it. The best scenes in the film are when the characters
simply interact with each other in their macho, dunderheaded way, and that
isn’t just a product of the mostly terrific performances. The first act of this
film is some of Bay’s best, most economical work. The trouble comes later.
Once the subject
matter drifts into the darker, more potentially disturbing stuff, Bay can’t
quite find the necessary tone. This may be a film about excess, but Bay is
unable to take it out of his usual chaotic gear. Everything is about getting to
the next “cool” or “funny” moment, and the more he focuses on that the less
likely we are to care about anything that’s actually happening within the story.
At the end of the day, he is a director that is entirely preoccupied with the
surface, and that gets him into deep trouble once the walls start to close in
on the characters. Pain & Gain
does not frame these people in a consistent way. They are horrible, despicable people, but Bay doesn’t want us to realize that until
entirely too late. I’m not saying that we should detest these characters from the
get go—that would be an error in its own right—but the film is unable to find
the middle ground. Bay is a man that deals in extremes and extremes
only. With material like this, that is sometimes appropriate. It is not
appropriate all the time.
Despite the
problems I may have with a good chunk of the film, I would be remiss if I did not
drive home the point that Pain & Gain
remains an impulsively watchable, usually entertaining film. Bay may be off in
Crazyville like always, but one of the biggest reasons it works at all is that the actors
willfully go right along with him. Wahlberg is in full-on sincere mode here (a la Boogie Nights or Ted) and he continues to prove that there are few guys better at
playing this unique type of role. Mackie is also solid, but the standout here is—yes,
really—Dwayne Johnson. Most of his films have leaned heavily on his absurdly charismatic
persona, but here he’s actually asked to do real performing. As a character. And he nails it. It really is incredible, and I’d recommend people see
this movie for that reason alone. He is a far better actor than he has any
right to be.
I’d love to read
the original screenplay for Pain &
Gain sometime, because it seems like it could be incredible. Heck, I spent
most of the movie thinking of all the ways it could have been incredible.
Occasionally Bay gets it right, but for every great 10-minute stretch there would
be another 10-minute stretch that annoyed me to no end. The last act in
particular mostly didn’t click with me, as it felt like Bay’s crack at remaking
the “walls closing in” sequences in Goodfellas
and not quite finding the magic that Scorsese was able to find there. (Though
in fairness, that’s an impossible standard to live up to.) Pain & Gain is worth seeing simply because it seems like Bay is
honestly trying to make an actual film
as opposed to empty spectacle. That is admirable, and there were times when I
actively enjoyed and appreciated what I was seeing. That’s more than I can say
for most of his work. And yet, just because you give him a fraction of the
usual budget and something compelling to work with doesn’t mean he’s going to
be a whole new man. Old habits die hard.
Grade: B-
If you’d like to
read the Miami New Times stories on
which this film’s script was based, I have linked to them below. It is a
ridiculously strange story.
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