Pain & Gain (2013)

the audience applauded

Pretty Good

For having a relatively low budget, the film's style and overall art direction are immensely impressive.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Pain and gain.Michael Bay is a joke and should not be allowed behind a camera; and this film proves why. He was given a relatively decent cast of actors, an original script which was not only based on a.. whatever. This film doesn't even deserve me spending anymore time on it.

Watching this movie I had a sudden insight, hitting me like a van driven by Dwayne Johnson: the Transformers are not bad movies because Michael Bay is a bad director. They are the way they are because that's what people pay to see and Michael Bay can make that kind of movie better than anyone else.Pain and Gain is a movie that Michael Bay wanted to make, and it's a great movie because he didn't need to make it a blockbuster and he didn't have to go for a lowest common denominator audience. Left to make a fun, small scale movie, he demonstrates just how good he can be.The story of Daniel Lugo and co. is horrifying and lurid, but also entertaining and fascinating. For the movie to work the protagonists can be portrayed as neither sympathetic nor repulsive. It's a demonstration of just how good Bay is that he nails this perfectly from start to finish.The events are not so much based on a true story, so much as it is a faithful re-telling of the actual events. They are already so crazy that there was no need to add anything - the main changes are some compression for dramatic tightness.Cast is game, very game. Ed Harris is particularly good in the role of Ed DuBois, the private detective who is our sole window of sanity in the film. Tony Shalhoub also hits just the right mix of abrasive jerk and sympathetic victim as Victor Kershaw.The camera work is lush, Miami Vice style, full of saturated and warm tones. Editing is tight. Soundtrack well chosen.All-in-all I can't knock a point off. It perfectly succeeds what it set out to do. The subject matter may not be to everyone's taste, the combination of fascination and horror, but no one should deny the skillful execution of the telling of it.

Okay it is not the best story, and I think they have pimped up the version just a tad and then again drugs can make you do crazy things... I guess.Well I liked it, I was very much entertained, especially the characters are very funny. Wahlberg plays Daniel Lugo and he seems to be a fairly okay guy, not that bright, but clearly the best of the three guys. Dwayne has a more peaceful character, but is very gullible and does have that much to route around with in the skull of his either. Mackie plays Adrian Doorbal and he is the follower, not bright either, but what Daniel Lugo does so does Adrian Doorbal.This is a new path for Michael Bay and for a film that is so much different from what I have seen from him, he does a great job in my opinion. For me the attitude, the colors, the clothes, the music, everything just sets a good mood and hit the nineties, it is awesome.

This comic caper movie is based on a true story of some Miami criminals who kidnap a rich man and steal his money then murder another couple. It's a stranger than fiction story that is fascinating to watch. Here's the main problem. Any reasonable viewer would after a while realize that the criminal/heroes of this movie are doing some pretty dreadful things to the victims. Making them bumbling comical people may be funny on screen but trivializes what they did. I'm sure the victims and families of the victims must be appalled.It's unusual to see the main actors take on the role of villains because they usually are the heroes. Mark Wahlberg looks very short and stocky when he's overbuilt. The Rock acts quite funny as usual. Anthony Mackie looks relatively puny. Director Michael Bay shows a bit more style and humor than usual in the way the dialog and events unfold.