After the immense TRANSFORMERS trilogy, Michael Bay had the urge to scale it down and make a smaller film. He teamed up with Mark Wahlberg (THE FIGHTER), Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (FAST FIVE) and Anthony Mackie (THE HURT LOCKER) to bring to the screen a story about three dumb gym rats who think they’re smart enough to pull of a crime against dangerous baddies and find out the hard way that they are not. Can Michael Bay make a movie without destroying a city? Can he make a movie about humans? Let’s see.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/SEQ8jyvmYtw[/youtube]
So this is what a small Michael Bay movie looks like. Okay, so he can’t resist fetishizing men in uniforms with big guns using the slow motion button on the camera. And fast sports cars. I guess we just have to accept that. Interestingly enough, this looks pretty funny. The chemistry between the three leads is electric and had me chuckling. Watching meat heads say inane things while they get hurt tickles my nerd heart. Throw in a self-deprecating wise guy villain in the form of great character actor Tony Shalhoub (THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE) and I think that for once we’ll get some great performances in a Michael Bay movie (Nicolas Cage in THE ROCK notwithstanding). Did I mention Ed Harris (A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE) is in this as the guy who is hired to hurt the big dummies? This looks like it could be a good movie or at least a fun time. It’ll probably come down to the screenplay. It was written by the team that brought you 2011’s CAPTAIN AMERICA and the three Narnia movies. Sure, why not?
Pumped? PAIN AND GAIN flexes its box office muscles in US theaters April 26, 2013.
