Sabotage

The Hollywood we see today is very different from the one 35 years ago in the 1980s, back in a time before endless sequels, remakes and big franchises. Sure there was Star Wars, the James Bond series, the Rocky films and a few others but today's studios have taken things to the next level. But if it's not a sequel that the film will be riding on, chances are nostalgia will play a significant role. We've had a film about Lego, the upcoming Ghostbusters film and The Expendables series, that served as a vehicle intent on reuniting the action stars from that golden, yet neon tinted, age in 80s cinema.

Since The Expendables, we've seen Arnold Schwarzenegger and his buddy Stallone return to the action formula riding on that wave of nostalgia hoping to deliver that same brutal action which made them famous. 2014's Sabotage fits that description as Schwarzenegger leads an elite task force who start being take out one by one following a mission in Mexico. The premise sounded fun, the cast looked good and the inclusion of Training Day writer, David Ayer, as director had me curious, but it just couldn't deliver.

What follows is a two hour mess that apparently suffered badly in the editing room and lost an extra hour in its story that could have really helped. The idea behind Sabotage seemed promising but there are noticeable jumps in and around the story which severely damaged the pacing. It can sound daft saying this about a simple action film, but the great ones, such as Die Hard, survive year on year among the best action film lists because they can tell a good story. There's also meant to be a sense of mystery when the crew start to suspect people within their own team but it's hardly developed enough to carry any weight.

Hurting the film even more are the disappointing action sequences where Schwarzenegger should be allowed to shine. He has that physical presence and I liked how his character isn't the typical good-guy hero, but the tampering in the script smoothed out any rough edges to have given him more personality. The final action sequence should have been the moment where we see him at his best but instead we get a silly car chase followed by a shootout in a Mexican bar. Upon further research that was not meant to have been the original ending and what I read sounded much more interesting.

Sabotage is ultimately a lot of wasted potential and is very hard to recommend. Somewhere in this was a decent crime thriller that took a u-turn and became a rather standard action flick. Schwarzenegger proves he can still just about shine, even when the product isn't up to scratch. Dare I say the producers sabotaged this!